Rita Piffer
Director and screenwriter
Rita Piffer is a creator, screenwriter, and director. She graduated in Journalism from the Federal University of Santa Catarina and obtained her MFA in Cinema from San Francisco State University. She has developed projects for Brazilian and international audiovisual production companies, including Studio+, Gullane, VideoFilmes, RT Features, and Gaumont.
Currently, she is developing a female action series of her own creation for an American streaming platform, the content of which is still under wraps. She has just written the feature film "Cyclone," a period drama directed by the acclaimed filmmaker Flávia Castro ("Deslembro," 2018, and "Diário de Uma Busca," 2010), starring Luiza Mariana and Eduardo Moscovis, with a scheduled release in 2024.
Rita was part of the creative team for the series "Refinaria de Histórias" for Revista Piauí, worked as a screenwriter for the documentary series "Retratos Urbanos," 2020, broadcast on the Futura channel, and in 2021, she won the VIVA CINEMA Grant from the state of Rio de Janeiro to produce her first documentary feature film, "Paradeiros” (2024), released at the Festival do Rio and winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Novos Rumos exhibition..
She was selected to participate as an author in the SESC ARGUMENTA lab with the children's and young adult story "Os Céus de Teté" and in the NOVAS HISTÓRIAS lab with the coming-of-age story "O Debut de Teresa." Her short films have been internationally showcased at experimental film festivals. She won the Eileen Maitland Award, dedicated to films that give voice to women, at the 55th Ann Arbor Film Festival for the film "Ausência de Memória," 2017, and her film "Ghost Syndrome," 2013, is part of the permanent collection of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project for LGBT Moving Image Preservation. Her latest documentary short film, "Hotel Tropical," in partnership with Sérgio Machado, was released by Uol Mov.docs in 2020.