Mirella Façanha
Actress, theater director and playwright
Mirella Façanha, a Brasília native living in São Paulo, is an actress, performer, director, and playwright. Her artistic research explores intersectionality as a driving zone for new constructions that unsettle speech and subjectivities. After studying Performing Arts at the University of Brasília, she graduated from the Escola de Arte Dramática (EAD/ECA/USP). She began in theater as a child and has been building her trajectory in the performing arts for over 20 years.
With dance, performativity, and humor as pillars for narrative construction, Mirella believes the stage can be a space for social mobility and for shaping a people’s imagination—seeking to expand what it means to build humanity for bodies that do not fit within normative standards.
Her most recent works include the play “ISTO É UM NEGRO?”, in which she is an actress, playwright, and scene researcher, drawing from decolonial thought around the myth of race. The production has been presented in several cities across Brazil, as well as in European countries, and also in Chile and Scotland. She stars in the film “CIDADE; CAMPO” (2024, Dir. Juliana Rojas), which had its world premiere in the Encounters section at the 74th Berlinale—where it received the award for Best Director—and its Brazilian premiere at the 52nd Gramado Film Festival."