Mariana Duarte is a filmmaker and researcher currently completing a practice-based PhD in Film at the Edinburgh College of Art. Her research examines borders, migration and forced displacement in contemporary cinema, with a focus on creative documentary practice. Her article A Camera in the Water: Reframing the Migrant Image in Documentary Film, published in Screen, was shortlisted for the 2025 Screen Essay Award and received a Special Mention. She holds an MA in Film from Screen Academy Scotland, completed through the Kino Eyes joint master’s programme with an Erasmus Mundus scholarship and international mobility between Portugal, Scotland and Estonia.

Mariana’s filmmaking practice includes Headland (short, 2024), which received the Best Mini-Doc award at the 2025 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and Newcomers (short, 2013), which premiered at the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival. Her films have screened at Edinburgh International Film Festival, Aspen Shortfest and other international festivals. She is a Berlinale Talents alumna. In 2026, she undertook commissioned development research for Ilinca Călugăreanu’s forthcoming feature documentary Anatomy of Indifference, supported by Screen Scotland. Her professional background includes over seven years as an in-house television editor, working on scripted drama for TV Globo and unscripted and reality programmes for Discovery Channel Latin America.

Her public engagement includes co-curating (un)borderings, a multi-screen exhibition followed by a participatory community workshop at Migration Matters Festival in Sheffield. She has also curated documentary screenings for the Scottish Documentary Institute’s Doc Screen initiative at Filmhouse Edinburgh. She served as Programme Adviser and a Best Short Film Award juror for the 2026 Folkestone Documentary Festival, and on the selection committee for the BAFTA Student Awards in 2025.