Gandja Monteiro is a director, writer and producer based in Los Angeles and São Paulo. Since graduating in film from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, she has directed work in more than a dozen countries, four continents and eight languages. Her narrative short ALMOST EVERY DAY (2009) won international visibility in festivals such as Tribeca and Palm Springs, and went on to be shortlisted for the Academy Awards®.

Monteiro has directed commercials and branded content for industry heavy-hitters such as Nike, Adidas, Google, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Chevrolet and Smirnoff, among others. Beneath The Canopy, a film she directed for Google Brand Studio, was shortlisted at the 2018 Cannes Lions Festival.

Her first TV project, an hour-long episode for HBO's documentary series Youth just had its broadcast premiere. On the episodic TV front, she recently directed two episodes of the series Vida for Starz. She also helmed a pilot for Showtime, starring Amanda Decadenet.

Gandja is a 2018 fellow of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women. She’s just premiered her new sci-fi short film Control/Option/Escape, which she directed through the program. She has just gone through the Fox TV Director’s Lab and the Universal Feature Director’s Lab. Gandja most recently directed an episode for the series The Chi and In The Dark.

Find out more about Gandja and her work here!