Mariana Machado is a filmmaker and researcher who graduated in Media Studies with an emphasis on Film Studies at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), having been awarded a scholarship to study a semester at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), where she specialized in film direction. She has been working with independent productions since 2015, and has directed music videos, video arts, audiovisual campaigns, and short films. In addition, Mariana has accumulated creative and research experiences in film education, performance, and photography.

     She is the director, photographer, and editor of the film Ângelo, released at the 9th Mostra Ecofalante de Cinema, one of the most prestigious film festivals dedicated to social-environmental issues in Latin America, where it received the second place award in the Best Film by the Audience category. Currently, Ângelo is in the distribution stage, having been exhibited in several national and international festivals. In 2020, she was awarded a prize with her film "I'll take just what's needed" by the open call "Arte como Respiro", organized by the Institution "Itaú Cultural". In the same year, she won the Aldir Blanc Law award, aimed at film professionals in Minas Gerais, for her work and feats as a director. Over the years, she has participated in artistic residencies, such as Buitenkunst (Netherlands) and American Arts Incubator (USA-embassy and Brazil). Besides, Mariana is member of a collective of artists and activists called Cine Fronteira and the feminist artistic collective “Doras Platform”. Today, she is working on her new fiction film named "The last day of the year", and in the documentary "The Land Eaters", awarded a government grant by the Municipality of Belo Horizonte. Besides, she lives and works in the artistic residency named "SELVVA", which she co-created and is one of the coordinators.

    In 2015, Mariana took part in the group “MUTUM: education, pedagogy, and cinema” (UFMG) as a researcher and film educator. During her journey in MUTUM she has directed and edited the documentary “Arpilleras”. This film was released alongside the publishing of a book written by the group and was premiered on the 12th edition of the Cinema Festival of Ouro Preto. In 2017, Mariana was a member of the Jury Bench of the 20th edition of the Tiradentes Film Festival. In 2018 she was also part of a research grant that explored performance and video, called: “Images of the body in the urban space”. This same year, the Art Gallery Godarc (Brazil) has invited her to expose some of her visual art. Mariana presented then her piece “Maps of Absence” which included video art and plastic intervention on photography. Mariana truly believes in the creative gesture as a powerful form of political and poetic resistance.