Isabella Ricchiero is a filmmaker, researcher, and distributor from Sao Paulo, Brazil. She graduated in Media and Film Studies at University of Campinas (2017 - 2020) and University of Leeds (2019), later specialising in film distribution and exhibition at the Instituto de Cinema (2021) and completing a master's degree in Film, Television, and Digital Narratives at the Design Akademie Berlin - SRH (2022 - 2024).
She worked as an assistant editor for Zanzalá - Brazilian Journal of Film Genre Studies and was a CNPq scholarship holder researching the definition of a cult film, in addition to having published essays on experimental short films, contemporary documentary filmmaking, and the ideology of love in romantic comedies. Most recently, her master thesis "Mystifying the Global South: Contemporary representation in major film festivals" quantified thematic labels per geopolitical region in the programmes of European festivals.
Experienced in the areas of scriptwriting, directing, producing, curating, and teaching film workshops, Isabella has provided services for Casa Locomotiva Studio, Unicamp Press, One Minute Festival, Centro Cultural Marieta, Kinoforum - São Paulo International Short Film Festival, and Mercúrio Cultural. Since 2023, she is the manager of Latin-American partners at Nikita Ventures GmbH, a leading AVOD distribution company based in Berlin.
Her own projects have been selected to numerous festivals, receiving awards such as Best Narrative (V MOV Festival), Best Documentary (Bradoc), and Special Jury Winner (12th FICBC - Balneário Camboriú International Film Festival). Influenced by the academic research, Isabella's filmmaking often reflects on the apparatus itself and the reach of cinema outside of the screen. Lately, she has been experimenting in her work with the concept of feminist filmmaking.
