Name: Paulo Desana
Area of work: Directing, Screenwriting
Program: Bolsa
Edition: 2025
City: Manaus
State: AM
City of origin: São Gabriel da Cachoeira, AM
E-mail: [email protected]
Paulo Desana, born in Saint Gabriel of the Waterfall - Amazon, is an Indigenous visual artist, cameraman, and photographer, founder of Dabukuri Entertainment, a production company dedicated to creating audiovisual and visual art content centered on Indigenous culture. He holds a degree in Camerawork from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Goiás (2025) and in Camera Assistance from Bucareste Film Workshop (2025). As a director of photography and cameraman, Paulo Desana has participated in several audiovisual projects. Among the most recent are “Park of the Tribes – Many Peoples, One Nation” (2024/2025), the short documentary “Roads and Traces” (2024), the short film “Alley Bodozal” (2024), and the mini-documentary “Science and Cuisine” (2023). He worked as a cameraman on the award-winning short fiction film Wuitina Numiá (2021) and on the documentary O Dabucuri (2021). He was also a cameraman on the documentary Snake Canoe (2023), about the life of the Indigenous activist Álvaro Tukano, and on Through the Waters of the River of Milk (2018). He also worked as a producer and cameraman on the project by the Backyard Films Association, “Audiovisual Workshops Related to the Safeguarding of the Traditional Agricultural System of the Rio Negro”, carried out by IPHAN/AM between October 2015 and January 2016. From 2016 to 2019, he joined as a cameraman the Canal Canoa Project, developed by Shine a Light (USA) in partnership with Imagination Plant (Brazil), focused on documenting Indigenous childhood. In parallel, he collaborated as a photographer and cameraman for several news agencies, such as Real Amazon, Public News Agency, and Mongabay. He is currently the screenwriter and director of photography for the series “Taste & Tradition”, composed of eight 26-minute episodes that celebrate the food sovereignty of the Indigenous peoples of the Rio Negro, revealing the profound connection between territory, culture, mythology, and sustainability through ancestral culinary practices.
In 2025, Paulo was selected for the Desde La Raíz Residency, and became part of the Paradiso Talent Network.
