Laís Andrade
Director | Screenwriter | Visual Artist
ABOUT ME
Laís Andrade is a Brazilian-Portuguese director, writer and visual artist whose work is mainly inspired by migration and autobiography.
Since 2024, she is a FilmEU PhD student at Lusófona University, researching and creating on the representation of slavery in film, following her debut video installation "My Ray of Sunshine" (2024) for the international residency "Manifest", under the same theme.
She wrote and directed “Green House” (2021), an award-winning short fiction film about migrant workers in portuguese illegal plantations, based on stories from her community.
She also directed short films such as “Gagne Pain” (2021) and “Diamante” (2023), and co-wrote “As if the World Had No West” (2024) with Mónica de Miranda and Ondjaki.
Her next short film, currently in pre-production, is based on her own migration experience as a child.
Laís Andrade
Director | Screenwriter | Visual Artist
FILM
GREEN HOUSE
Short film | Fiction | Drama | 15' | 2021
Director and writer - Laís Andrade
Cast - Nádia Yracema and Cátia RodriguesSynopsis: The silent tale of an immigrant woman looking for a better life. As she struggles with loneliness and poverty, she is unable to forget what she left behind.
A look at the exploitation of immigrants in Portugal, through the eyes of a greenhouse worker.Awards and Selections:
Audience Award Social Justice Film - Charlotte Film Festival (USA)
Curtas Vila do Conde - International Film Festival (PT)
Olhares do Mediterrâneo - Women's Film Festival (PT)
Porto Femme International Film Festival (PT)
Festival Política (PT)
Mostra de Cinema Negro do Espírito Santo (BRA)
TICKET 13, DESK 5
Short film (in development)
Director and writer - Laís Andrade
Producer - Tathiani Sacilotto (Persona Non Grata Pictures)Synopsis: Portugal, 2004. Yasmin, a 7 year old Brazilian girl and her parents spend the day at the Portuguese Immigration and Border Service (SEF) to renew their visas.Selected for Marieta Script Development Group (Brazil)
DIAMANTE
Short Film | Fiction | Comedy | 6' | 2023
Director - Laís Andrade
Screenplay - Laís Andrade, Rita Paiva, Pedro Gomes, António Pimparel
Cast - Rita Paiva, Pedro Gomes, António PimparelSynopsis: A woman heists her ex-boyfriends house to rescue her most precious diamond.48 Hour Film Project Lisbon 2023
GAGNE-PAIN
Short film | Fiction | Drama | 15' | 2021
Director - Laís Andrade
Artistic coordination - Julian Boal
Production - Espírito Mundo - Cineluso; The Left - EU
Exibitions: Eulat4Culture BelgiumSynopsis: A maid about to lose her dreams; a client facing the contradictions of mass production; a daughter who has not seen her mother for ten years; a young man on the edge of the immigrant abyss. Darlene, Abdel, Laís and Leonardo face difficult realities, intertwined by overwhelming contradictions. They are possible stories of a perverse everyday life.Short film made in collective creation for Residency Cineluso in Brussels, Belgium.
Laís Andrade
Director | Screenwriter | Visual Artist
VISUAL ART
MY RAY OF SUNSHINE
Video Art | Docufiction | 7' | 2024
Director and Writer - Laís Andrade
Cast - Daniela Paulo, Sulwe
Director of Photography - Hugo Barros
Editor - Grazie Pacheco
Exhibitions:
Manifest Final Exhibition
L’Atelier, Nantes, France
September 19th - October 6th, 2024
Synopsis: A mother and daughter, separated by the ocean, use soundwaves to communicate. MY RAY OF SUNSHINE (2024) explores the memory of the transatlantic trade of enslaved people through the concept of the spiral time. It imagines the voice messages that an enslaved mother might have sent to her absent daughter. Affection is an act of resistance to the violence of colonisation.
EM.FOCO
Video Art | Digital Magazine | 4' | 2022
Director and editor - Laís Andrade
Performer - Nádia Yracema
Cinematography - Ana Mariz
Producers - Ana Sofia Nunes and Miguel Munhá (Jângal Studios)In this video-portrait directed by Laís Andrade, the actress, performer and creator Nádia Yracema tells us about her body-house. She says she takes to the stage, not only her story, but also all the stories that crossed her path and became embedded in her body as memories.
Laís Andrade
Director | Screenwriter | Visual Artist
SCRIPT
AS IF THE WORLD
HAD NO WEST
Short Film | Fiction | Drama | 25' | 2024
Director - Mónica de Miranda
Scriptwriters - Mónica de Miranda, Laís Andrade, OndjakiSynopsis: The journey of a young woman travelling through the Namibe desert and who, through her relationship with the ancient plants Mirabilis, listens to the cosmos.
The drought calls the rain, the ashes show the way, the plants tell her the stories of colonization. She tries to find out where the water is and searches for this universe by going through colonial ruins now buried by time and sands and lost in the middle of the sea.Awards and Selections:
EXPOSED Torino Foto Festival; Sharjah Biennial 2025
