COPACABANA PALACE

  • Project: Copacabana Palace (Creative Documentary)

  • Role: Editor

  • Collaborator: Peter Bauza (World Press Photo-winning Photojournalist)

  • Format: Creative Short / Documentary

  • Focus: Social Impact, Geopolitics, Human Rights

Story & Context

Far from Rio de Janeiro’s spotlight, over 300 families occupy "Copacabana Palace"—an unfinished, abandoned condominium complex—fighting to build a life amidst Brazil's housing crisis. While billions were invested in the Olympics and World Cup, these residents survived without basic sanitation, running water, or stable electricity.

The film exposes the stark contrast between public policy and reality, celebrating the resilience, humanity, and everyday hopes of a community fighting for a place to call home.

Editorial Challenge & Approach

This is where you showcase your expertise as an editor and collaborator.

The Brief & Vision:

Translating multi-award-winning photojournalism into a dynamic, moving-image documentary.

My Creative Contribution:

  • Translating Still Imagery to Film Narrative: Worked alongside Peter Bauza to build a narrative arc that balanced stark geopolitical reality with deep visual intimacy.

  • Pacing & Emotional Weight: Paced the edit to highlight the quiet resilience of the residents, carefully constructing a tone that exposes systemic neglect without stripping subjects of their dignity.

  • Rhythm & Contrast: Interwove ambient soundscapes and observational cuts to contrast the grand backdrop of mega-sporting events with the hidden, daily reality of the sem teto, sem terra (roofless and landless).

Accolades & Visual Impact

  • Based on Peter Bauza’s multi-award-winning photo book Copacabana Palace.

  • Project recognition associated with World Press Photo (2017), POY Latam (2017), and Visa d’Or (2016).

  • Film helped launch Bauza’s work to be featured across global publications including The Guardian, The Washington Post, GEO, Stern, and New York Magazine.