My name is Chaiana Furtado, and I was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, specifically in Olaria, near Largo das 5 Bocas. I have all my family and my childhood memories rooted in Vila da Penha. I’ve been creating stories and inventing characters since I was a child. It all started as play with my toys and school exercises; then, as life brought traumas, overwhelming emotions, and the imaginative distractions of a not-so-introverted suburban girl, everything turned into a story.

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During my childhood, my love for cartoons and comic books led me to start filming my own narratives using the family VHS camcorder. I would take selfies in my room before it was trendy, planning the framing with the camera’s timer and burning through film rolls before it was even considered retro. The memory of those days is still very much a part of me, though sometimes I look at the photos and think, “How on earth did I manage that?”

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In my teenage years, a school art and education project sparked my love for cinema. Soon, I was learning how to produce films and decided to make it my career. I took this passion further and graduated in Film from PUC-Rio. However, being afraid of not finding a job (because does cinema really have a future, dear?), I simultaneously pursued a degree in Geography at UFRJ and interned at an educational technology center at EPSJV of Fiocruz, my beloved and cherished former school. With this hunger for knowledge and the desire to blend art and education, I took another entrance exam and years later completed a degree in Pedagogy at UFRJ. These exhausting experiences helped me build my personal map, and luckily, I was young and fueled by dreams.

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As the years passed, I discovered not only that the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro existed and that Leblon was far away but closer than I had imagined from watching soap operas. I met new people, even discovered theater – the world expanded, stretched – and my dreams were embraced with many overtime hours on film sets and muscle aches. I enrolled in the Cuban film school to study executive production, and Latin America filled my pores with joy.

 

Curious about how foreigners managed to finance their projects, I pursued a Master's in Creative Business at NFTS in England. To fund my studies, I worked as a seller at a Portuguese sweets stall, where my boss asked me to pretend to be Portuguese and make up stories about the sweets. And I did. It was already a sign from the universe that I would one day go to Portugal and continue inventing stories.

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Once in Lisbon, I entered a new phase, a PhD, more desires, other journeys. Producing music, what a novelty! A music festival. I loved it. Throughout this journey, my passion for books continues to beat strongly. I increasingly blend intersections of storytelling across different narratives. Cinema, for me, is the art of transforming words into images and sounds, a spiraling dance. And I am passionate about words. They have saved me countless times. Words have healing power – they are the guiding force behind some of the arts that move me the most.

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Today, I develop collaborative projects, with diversity at the forefront, to touch different hearts and to write, draw, and envision new projects together. I offer consulting, especially for women and non-binary people, with a focus on LGBTQI+ issues. I believe that stories change people, and people change the world. All we want is transformation. The transformation of society has an essentially cultural dimension. My personal revolution did. I believe in what happened to me. Art is the lever to bring forth the voices of silenced people. We will break this silence and contest ideas. That’s why I exist in the world: to help artists build their projects from idea to execution, including resource management. And resources are often much more than we’ve been led to believe.