Mariana is a filmmaker specialising in editing and directing across both documentary and scripted formats. She holds a BA in History and an MA in Film from Screen Academy Scotland, completed through the Kino Eyes Erasmus Joint Master’s programme. Currently, she is in the final year of her PhD by Practice in Film at the Edinburgh College of Art, focusing on documentary directing. Her practice-based research explores how contemporary cinema engages with borders, migration, and the lived experiences of forced displacement. Further areas of interest include intercultural and postcolonial cinema, feminist film theory, border aesthetics, and the intersection of migration, ecology, and film. Her scholarly work includes the article ‘A Camera in the Water: Reframing the Migrant Image in Documentary Film," published in Screen journal.

Mariana is a Berlinale Talents alumna, a BAFTA Connect member, and her work has been screened at festivals worldwide, including Edinburgh, Aspen Shortest, Tiradentes, and São Paulo International Film Festivals. Her latest short, Headland (Scottish Documentary Institute, 2024), received the Best Mini-Doc award at the Big Sky Documentary Festival, an Academy Award qualifying event. Prior to moving into academia, she spent over 10 years working as an in-house film and TV editor at Globo Network, one of the world’s major media organisations, and as a freelancer for clients such as Discovery Channel, DeWerelMorgen.be, and the International Red Cross. Earlier work, including "Newcomers" (Centre Vidéo de Bruxelles, 2013), premiered at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival.

Mariana tutors and teaches guest lectures for undergraduate courses in Contemporary Cinema and Design and Screen Cultures at the Edinburgh College of Art. She has previously worked as an Assistant Lecturer in Film Editing at Lusophone University in Portugal. Her teaching approach is collaborative and interdisciplinary, combining professional industry experience with academic research to support student learning.

Originally from Brazil, Mariana has worked and lived in various parts of the world, including Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Estonia, and the UK.