"Goodnight, Maria" (Boa Noite, Maria)

01 Nov - 22 Nov 2025

Fabrizia Pinto is one of the artists selected for the new season of the KEF Portugal Artistic Residency Programme at Casa Mísia. During this period, the Brazilian director will develop, adapt and write the screenplay for "Boa Noite, Maria" (Goodnight, Maria), based on the short story of the same name by one of Brazil's greatest writers, Lygia Fagundes Telles. Euthanasia is one of the thematic axes of the story, which is part of the book A noite escura e mais eu (1995). But as is recurring in her work, Lygia brings universal existential conflicts to the plot. Death as a deliberative act is another point of light on old age, loneliness, memories of the pains and joys of an entire existence, and also on the desire and love that can arrive regardless of age. Fabrizia proposes to explore, through cinematographic language, the thin line between life and death, punctuating with flashes and silences what is reality, memory or reverie for her main character, Maria, to bring the ambiguity and density of the original text to the screen.

Fabrizia Pinto

Fabrizia Pinto is a Brazilian director, screenwriter, theatre director and actress. She trained as a dancer and actress at the Lee Strasberg Institute in NYC. She was part of the American director Robert Wilson's company for five years, on several world tours. She settled in São Paulo, where she worked as a director at the Exzoo Co. Theatre Company. She adapted and directed the play "Antes da Queda" (a short story by Guimarães Rosa) and "Othello - A Sombra de uma Dúvida" (an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello), which won the Shell Theatre Prize. She co-directed her first feature film with Fernando Meirelles, "Menino Maluquinho 2 - A Aventura", which won awards at various festivals. She became a director of advertising, TV series, cinema and documentaries, and has worked with production companies such as: O2 Filmes, Movi&Arte, Bossa Nova Filmes, Primo Filmes, Coiote and Lumen, among others. At O2 Filmes she directed episodes of the series "Antônia" and "Som & Fúria", co-produced by Rede Globo, and was the general director of the series "Beleza S.A." for GNT. For HBO, she directed episodes of the series "Filhos do Carnaval", in addition to creating, directing and writing scripts for the series "Motel", produced by Coiote and Primo Filmes. She also directed the documentary "Elas no Singular", about eight great Brazilian women writers, which was nominated for Best Arts-Focused Documentary Series at the Content Innovation Awards. She co-directed the series "Lady Voyeur" (Olhar Indiscreto) for Netflix, produced by Mixer, which reached the global Top 4 and was watched in 54 countries. She also directed the film "Ziraldo, Era uma vez um menino", which premiered at the 45th São Paulo International Film Festival and the Rio de Janeiro Film Festival, produced by Lumen Filmes and Instituto Ziraldo. Today, her film is being broadcast on Canal Curta! and CurtaON and received an Honourable Mention at the 1st Curta! Documentary Festival & Prize.