Celina Torrealba

Celina Borges Torrealba Carpi is a Brazilian filmmaker and producer. With a degree in Film from the Sorbonne, one of France’s most traditional institutions of higher education, and a master’s degree in Documentary from New York University, she has built a career devoted to auteur cinema and to themes of political and cultural relevance.

She also works in the nonprofit sector, in leadership positions at non-governmental organizations focused on urban development, human rights and sustainability. Her filmmaking is guided by emotion, as she puts it herself: “Everything I do in life carries emotion and affection. And cinema is about moving the audience.”

Portfolio

As a producer, she co-produced internationally acclaimed feature films, including Wasp Network (dir. Olivier Assayas), selected for the official competition at the Venice Film Festival; The Lighthouse (dir. Robert Eggers), nominated for an Oscar and awarded at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes; and Invisible Life (dir. Karim Aïnouz), winner of the Un Certain Regard section, also in Cannes, and chosen to represent Brazil at the Oscars.

Her first documentary production in Brazil was Arte da Diplomacia (2023), about the work of Brazilian diplomats in mediating conflicts and promoting human rights. The film had its world premiere at FIDBA (Buenos Aires International Documentary Film Festival).

As a director, Celina Borges Torrealba Carpi made the award-winning short The Breeding Shed and is completing her first feature documentary, Ainda Sei Dançar (2025), which explores grief and faith through her encounter with the life story of an African missionary between Brazil and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Donna Features

Celina founded Donna Features with Sergio Carpi. The company’s visual identity comes from the bromeliad, a symbol of strength, adaptability and beauty, and its focus is on stories that provoke reflection. In recent years these themes have moved to the center of her work, and she defines cinema as “a powerful tool of expression for issues of resistance and social transformation.”

Founder of #LINK:RIO

Celina Borges Torrealba Carpi also created #LINK:RIO, a free development lab and market platform for non-fiction cinema. Aimed at filmmakers from Rio de Janeiro, the project is run in partnership with FIDBA and is part of FID:RIO (Rio de Janeiro International Non-Fiction Film Festival).