Elza Cataldo is a director, producer, and screenwriter. She studied Cinematography at the Université de Nanterre and holds a PhD from the Sorbonne, France. She was also a professor and researcher at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais.

In 2023, Elza released the feature film The Queen’s Orphans, which participated in several international festivals. At the Festival Internacional de Cinema Feminino de Toronto, the film won Best Historical Film. It was also selected for the Washington Jewish Film Festival 2023 and won Best Narrative at the Los Angeles Independent Women Film Awards. It screened at the Festival de Cinema Judaico de São Paulo and was selected for the competitive section of EnergaCameraImage, in Poland, the largest film festival dedicated exclusively to cinematography.

Among Elza’s other works are the feature Wine of Roses (Best Debut Director at the Batumi International Festival – Georgia 2006; and Best Costume Design, Best Production Design, and Best Production Sound at the Maringá Festival 2006); the short The Actress’s Crime (Best Brazilian Short—Jury and Audience—and the TeleImage Award at the Mostra Internacional de São Paulo 2007; and Honorable Mention: Comedy at the Festival Internacional de Curtas de Belo Horizonte 2008); the documentary The Holy Visitation; and the shorts The White Gold, Lunarium, and The Bad News.

She co-produced the features A Luneta do Tempo, by Alceu Valença, and Meu Pé de Laranja Lima, by Marcos Bernstein. She was coordinator of the CINEPORT Screenwriting Lab, a consultant for ISVOR/FIAT on Storytelling, a lecturer and professor at Fundação Dom Cabral on structural frameworks, a consultant for the Programa Bahia Criativa (Minc/Secult) for script development, a consultant for Casa da Economia Criativa/SEBRAE for audiovisual projects, and the head of the Brokolis do Brasil Creative Nucleus for screenplays. She was also a film exhibitor in Belo Horizonte.

Elza has also directed the feature documentaries The Uprising of Bela Cruz and The Silence of Eva, and is finishing the fiction features A Pedra do Sino and Maria, a Rainha Louca, and the documentary Marianas. She is also preparing the feature documentary Quem Ama Não Mata: o ato and the fiction feature O Passeio de Dendiara.