Joana Niza Braga
- Edition
- Berlin 2020
- Country
- Portugal
- Online
- Facebook Instagram
- Joana Niza Braga is interested in
- #Collaborative Working #Women Empowerment #Animation #Documentary #Fantasy/Science Fiction (...)
Joana Niza Braga (1992) is one of the most talented and awarded sound designers in contemporary Portuguese cinema. With a distinguished career both nationally and internationally, she has worked on more than 130 films, including Free Solo (Academy Award for Best Documentary, 2019), The First Purge, Creep II, Colour Out of Space, Variações (Sophia Award for Best Sound, 2020), Balada de um Batráquio (Golden Bear for Best Short Film, Berlinale 2016), BAAN (Sophia Award for Best Original Score, 2025), Um Filme em Forma de Assim (Sophia Award for Best Sound, 2023), Joaquim, Paloma, Metamorfose dos Pássaros, We The Animals, Campamento Garra de Oso and Netflix’s Turn of the Tide (Season 2). She holds a degree in Film with a specialization in Sound from the Lisbon Theatre and Film School (ESTC, 2013). Her early collaborations with director Leonor Teles — including Rhoma Acans (2012) and Balada de um Batráquio (2016) — helped shape her distinctive sonic language: precise, narrative-driven, and emotionally attuned. Her work has been selected for major international festivals such as Locarno, Berlinale, Cannes, Sundance, Rotterdam, and San Sebastián. Joana’s international recognition was further cemented with Free Solo (2018), produced by National Geographic, where she contributed as Foley Mixer. The project earned her a Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Award for Best Sound Mixing in a Documentary, and the film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2019. In 2020, she was selected for Berlinale Talents, standing out as one of the most promising emerging professionals in European cinema. To date, she has received three Sophia Awards from the Portuguese Academy of Cinema: Best Sound for Variações (2020) and Um Filme em Forma de Assim (2023), and Best Original Score for BAAN (2025).
Sample of Work
