João Salaviza (1984) studied Cinema at the Lisbon Theater and Film School and the Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires. His first short film Arena was awarded the Palme d’Or at Cannes (2009), followed by the Golden Bear for Short Films at the Berlinale for Rafa (2012). His first feature film, Mountain (2015), had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival (Critics Week). Since then, he has lived between Portugal and Brazil with the Krahô indigenous people. In 2018, The Dead and the Others (co-directed with Renée Nader Messora) premiered at Cannes Film Festival, receiving the Special Jury Prize – Un Certain Regard. In 2023, he returned to Cannes to premiere The Buiriti Flower, co-directed with Renée Nader Messora.
Renée Nader Messora (1979) graduated in Cinematography from the Universidad del Cine, in Buenos Aires. For 15 years, she worked as assistant director on several projects in Brazil, Argentina and Portugal. Whilst photography the short film Pohí, she got to know the Krahô people and has been working with the community ever since, contributing to the organisation of a young filmmakers collective. In 2018, her first feature film, The Dead and the Others (co-directed with João Salaviza) premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, receiving the Special Jury Prize – Un Certain Regard. The Buriti Flower is her second feature film, co-directed with João Salaviza and shot over a period of fifteen months in the Krahô Indigenous Land.
