Paulo Mendel is a director, cinematographer, editor, visual artist and independent curator. He studied stage direction at UFRJ and cinema at UNESA, Rio de Janeiro. He explores audiovisual possibilities in different media, especially the interface between art and video and between video art and documentary. He has worked in short and feature films, commercials, animations and art films. His hybrid works – webdocumentaries, video installations, multimedia stage designs, videodances – have been exhibited at major festivals, such as the Bienal de Sao Paulo, the Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil and the Prague Quadrennial, and are included in collections such as those of Circuito Videodanza Mercosur and Centre de Vidéo-danse de Bourgogne.

In recent years, Mendel began to create in other media – such as web-art and oil paintings – as well directing projects of his production company BlankTape, with which he also organizes online exhibitions, a way to dialogue with other artists and reflect upon contemporary production. Recently, a short documentary directed by him won the APA Award 2019, the most important recognition in the field of visual anthropology in Portugal. In 2019, his first fashion film won six internationals awards, including for Best Director in London and for Best Photography in Barcelona.