Maureen FAZENDEIRO

Born 1989 in Paris, France
Based in Lisbon, Portugal

Studied cinema and dance and the relationship between them. Served as casting director for the French section of Miguel Gomes’s Arabian Night (2015) while working for the publisher Independencia in Paris. Later shifted her focus to filmmaking.

The documentary Motu Maeva, her debut as a director, has been screened and won prizes at film festivals around the world, including in Chile, Portugal, Mexico, and Italy. This work, which was also shown at the Hiroshima International Film Festival, is a journey through the memories of the adventures of Sonja André, who in the early 20th century built and lived in a hut on the island of Motu Maeva. It is a collection of memories indicated by the sign reading “Motu Maeva” erected in Sonja’s garden in France, where she now lives. Shot on Super 8, the documentary combines old 8 mm footage of Sonja’s travels with her husband through Africa, Asia and Polynesia with new footage of Sonja as she appears today to relate in a straightforward manner her recollections of her beautiful, happy odysseys and her life, as well as the human subtleties that lie behind them.