Born in Brasília, Brazil, Elisa has always loved visuals and their impact on people. Growing up in a city that was completely planned and developed in the late 1950s, modern lines, shapes and composition built her perspective and understanding of the world.

During her childhood and teenage years, her dream was to become a fashion designer and create interesting narratives using clothes; meanwhile, she would spend hours and hours taking photos, enthusiastically watching movies and writing stories. Turning her love of film into her full-time way of life never crossed her mind - until she had to make a short film for a university course, and everything changed when she stepped on a set for the first time.

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Since 2014, she has been working as a cinematographer on fiction and documentary pieces, besides music videos and branded content. She is mostly interested in films that promote diverse narratives and shed light on social justice themes, while using visual storytelling intensively and engaging the audience with beautiful frames, but is open to different genres and styles.

 

With O Homem que não Cabia em Brasília, Pedalar é Suave, AmbulaTório, Berço das Águas and other films, her work has been screened in festivals internationally and throughout Brazil. Her debut in features comes with the documentary Crackland, shot in São Paulo, as well as in Oslo, Zurich, Vancouver and New York.

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Elisa also has experience as an Assistant Camera in larger projects, such as Desires of the Flesh, screened at Sundance and LA Outfest in 2019, Cano Serrado, which was presented at the Havana Film Festival, and other short films, features, ads, music videos. Additionally, she worked on Bela Raízes, a TV show made by the Brazilian network Canal Futura featuring Bela Gil.

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In 2019, she moved from Brasília to California to become a Cinematography Fellow at the prestigious American Film Institute in Los Angeles.