Petra Costa

Petra Costa is a Brazilian filmmaker and actress She first directed the short film Undertow Eyes 2009 which screened at the MoMA and was winner of best short film at Rio Film Festival Cine Las Americas International Film Festival London International Documentary Festival among others She then directed the feature Elena 2012 which premiered at IDFA followed by SXSW and HotDocs Elena won many prizes such as best film at Havana Film Festival 2013 was nominated for Best Cinematography at the 2014 Cinema Eye Honors and was the most watched documentary in Brazil in 2013 In 2013 Petra was one of the 20 recipients of a grant given by CPHDOX in Denmark From this grant Petra and her Danish codirector Lea Glob developed a feature film currently in postproduction with the working title Olmo and the Seagull The film is being produced by Zentropa Som Furia and Busca Vida Filmes Petra completed her undergraduate studies Summa Cum Laude in Anthropology at Barnard College Columbia University New York She did her Masters in Health Community and Development at the London School of Economics London She has lived in Brazil for most of her life