Valentina Maurel

Valentina Maurel is a Costa Rican-born filmmaker whose work operates in the liminal spaces of adolescence, where the domestic sphere curdles into a landscape of existential tension. Educated at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion in Belgium, she has cultivated a distinctively raw and unflinching aesthetic. Her lens captures the claustrophobia of family dynamics with a sharp, empathetic gaze, favoring naturalistic performances that vibrate with the unspoken anxieties of her protagonists. Her ascent on the international stage was solidified with the short film Lucia en el limbo, which earned a prestigious selection at the Semaine de la Critique in Cannes. She further refined her vision with her feature debut, Tengo sueños eléctricos, a visceral portrait of a volatile father-daughter bond that garnered her the Best Director award at the Locarno Film Festival. Through a style marked by sensory immediacy and emotional turbulence, Maurel has emerged as a vital voice in contemporary world cinema, excavating the messy, beautiful truths of the human condition.