Bárbara Paz(I)

Bárbara Paz is a Brazilian director, visual artist, actress, and producer. In cinema, she directed Babenco: Tell Me When I Die (2019), which premiered at the Venice International Film Festival and won the award for Best Documentary in the Venice Classics category in 2019, among many other international festivals. The film was also Brazil’s official selection to represent the country in the Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Oscars. In 2021, she directed the short film Act, which won the Grande Otelo award for Best Fiction Short Film at the Grande Prêmio do Cinema Brasileiro. As an actress, she has performed in more than 25 theatrical productions, starring in works ranging from Oscar Wilde to Tennessee Williams. She has played leading roles in numerous films, including My Hindu Friend, Hector Babenco’s last film, alongside Willem Dafoe. On television, Bárbara has appeared in various series and soap operas, and hosted the show A Arte do Encontro for four years on Canal Brasil, where she interviewed prominent figures from the Brazilian artistic scene. In 2013, she was awarded the Knight Medal of the Ministry of Culture, an Honor for Cultural Merit. As a visual artist, she presents the exhibition Self-Accusation in various galleries worldwide. She is currently finalizing her next documentary, Rua Pescador nº 6, a film about the largest climate catastrophe that occurred in May 2024 in southern Brazil. In 2024, she was also part of the official jury at the Venice Film Festival for the "Luigi De Laurentiis" Award for a Debut Film.