director, producer, animator
Natália was born in Braga, Portugal, in 1992, and spent most of her earlier life between Braga, Porto and Vila do Conde. She studied Fine Arts - Painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Porto, and Audiovisual Communication at Escola Artística de Soares dos Reis; during this time she participated in several illustration and comics fanzines, as well as independent publications and exhibitions. Most of her current work leans towards animation, film and writing. Between 2012 and 2019 she lived in Budapest, where she could develop these skills further at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design. Her animated films have been shown worldwide at festivals such as Tallinn Black Nights, Bucheon International Animation Film, Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, and Curtas Vila do Conde, having gotten the National Prize of Animation in 2021. Natália has recently participated in the Animations Sans Frontières European Animation Development Lab and the GoCritic! workshop. Currently, Natália is doing a residency at the Open Workshop in Viborg, working in the pre-production of her next short film "There Might Be Nothing Here". Natália lives in Porto, where she also works as a producer for AIM Creative Studios and an animator for projects such as "27" by Flóra Anna Buda (Palm d'Or, Annecy Crystal), "Hermit Island" by Gábor Mariai (awarded at Fantasia Montreal) and "In the Upper Room" by Alexander Gratzer (awarded at Vienna Shorts).
Filmography
supported by ICA, IP (Portuguese Film Fund), Animation Sans Frontières Development Lab, Open Workshop Residency, TVPaint
pitched at MIFA Annecy - Portuguese Focus 2024 and Fórum da Animação 2023, Curtas PRO 2024
supported by NFI (Hungarian Film Fund), produced by Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest
selected screenings: PÖFF Black Nights Film Festival; International Film Festival Etiuda&Anima; Flatpack Film Festival; Anibar; Curtas Vila do Conde; CINANIMA; Caminhos (Honourable Mention); Animateka; La Guarimba; Athens Animfest; Leiria Film Fest (Best Portuguese Animation); MINIKINO Film week (Best Animation Short); Prémio Nacional da Animação (Schools' Category Winner)
selected screenings: Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival; Curtas Vila do Conde; CINANIMA; WOMANIMATION; Balkanima; ANIMAC; CINEMAX (television screening); Film Crash (Best Student Film); European Short Films Amarante (2nd Place, International Competition); available at MUBI and FILMIN
selected screenings: Monstra 2011 (Best Portuguese Student Film); Bucheon International Animation Festival; Animateka; Curtas Vila do Conde; Animage; Anibar; Cinanima; Fantasporto
Education and Training
2024 - Open Workshop Residency @ The Animation Workshop, Viborg Denmark
2023 - GoCritic! @ Animateka Slovenia
2023 - Screenwriting: Core Elements @ Sundance Collab
2022 - Observer @ Cartoon Movie Pitching Event
2022 - Animation Sans Frontières European Animation Development Lab @ Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg + Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest + The Animation Workshop Viborg + Gobelins l'École de l'Image Paris
2019 - Animation MA @ Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest
2017 - Film Criticism Workshop @ Curtas Vila do Conde
2014 - Fine Arts - Painting BA @ Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto
2011 - Experimental Animation @ Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto + UT Austin
2010 - Audiovisual Communication @ Escola Artística de Soares dos Reis
Workshop Mentorships and Animation related work
2024 - Pitch at MIFA Annecy - Portugal Focus
2024-2023 - Producer at AIM Creative Studios Porto
2024 - Pitch at Curtas PRO
2023 - Member of ARA, Portuguese Animation Directors Association
2023 - Member of APPA, Portuguese Animation Producers Association
2023 - Lecturer in 2D Animation at ETIC Lisbon
2023 - Pitch at Fórum da Animação, the Portuguese-Brazilian Co-Production Forum
2022 - Member of the presiding body of Casa da Animação - Associação Cultural.
2021 - Jury for the Audiovisual Communication - Multimedia degree presentations at Escola Artística de Soares dos Reis.
2020 - Jury for the Student Animation Section of Olho Animation Film Festival
2015 - Co-mentor of the pixilation workshop at Open Doors Youth Voices + Adobe
Selected Exhibitions and publishing
2022 - "Limited Animation as Plot: a Perfect Blue Case Study" - Paper presentation at the 1# Ink and Motion Conference held at the School of Arts of the Catholic University of Porto.
2021 - Exhibition at Solar Cinematic Art Gallery, in the scope of ANIMAR.
2015 - "Crosta" Exhibition, at Galeria Painel, with Bárbara do Carmo. Text by Arlindo Silva and poster by Catarina Cubelo. Curatorship by Catarina Real, Tiago Madaleno, José Costa and Luís Ramos. With the support of the Fine Arts Faculty and the Public Health Institute of the University of Porto.
2011 - Writing collaboration with the illustrator Christina Casnellie for the independent publication Futuro Primitivo, edited by Chili com Carne.
Relevant Commercial Work
Client: TED-Ed + World Economic Forum // Production: Aim Creative Studios
Press
2024 - Variety - "Portuguese Animation Leading Lights José Miguel Ribeiro, Nuno Beato, David Doutel & Vasco Sá Unveil Projects at Annecy (EXCLUSIVE)"
2016-2020 - Live and online Q&As related to the participation in international film festivals, such as Anibar, Animateka and Curtas Vila do Conde.
2020 - Online interview for Olho Animation Film Festival.
2020 - Article about Thorns and Fishbones and its participation in the online version of Flatpack Film Festival at Arte Capital.
2019 - Mention in the article "Eles estão a mudar o cinema português" by Sérgio Almeida for the newspaper Jornal de Notícias.
2016 - Profile in Design is So, the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design online newspaper.
2015 - Mention in the 2015 review articles of the National Competition of Curtas Vila do Conde, by João Araújo for the film blog À Pala de Walsh (article in Portuguese).
2015 - Screening of the film Within on national television, on the program CINEMAX, related to the participation on the festival Curtas Vila do Conde and their event O Dia Mais Curto.
2015 - Interview for Antena 3 about the participation of Within in Curtas Vila do Conde.
2015 - Video interview about the "Crosta" interview for TVU, the University of Porto's video portal (in Portuguese).