DANIEL ZACARIOTTI
I am a Brazilian film director whose work explores queer experiences, immigrant identity, and the emotional cost of trying to build a life far from home. I am currently based between the UK and the US, developing films that center intimacy, vulnerability, and the politics of belonging. I am also a PhD candidate in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, where my research examines how Brazilian queer cinema subverts fascist narratives and creates new spaces for LGBTQIA+ visibility. This academic foundation strengthens my creative practice by grounding it in political consciousness and anti-erasure storytelling.
Across Brazil, the United States, France and the United Kingdom, I have directed or shot more than ten film projects. As a director, my films include Verano (2025), created and shot with fellow NYFA creatives in New York City; Mergulhe em Mim (2021); and Me Falta Tempo para Celebrar Teus Cabelos (2020), which screened at Mix Brasil, MAUAL, and Cine Tamoio, winning Best Fiction Script at Intercom. As a cinematographer, my work includes Demi Finds Jamie on The Roof (2025), A Family Secret (2025), Filhos de Dulcina (2016), Epíteto de Venûs (2015), and Jovens Empreendedores(2015). I also gained set leadership experience as Assistant Director on the short films OPPO (2025) and Try to Move On (2025).
Film Productions
Director - “Verano” (short film) 2025
Director of Photography - “Demi Finds Jamie on The Roof” (short film) 2025
Assistant Director - “OPPO” (short film) 2025
Assistant Director - “Try to Move On” (short film) 2025
Director of Photography - “A Family Secret” (short film) 2025
Director - “Mergulhe em Mim” (short film) 2021
Director - “Me Falta Tempo para Celebrar Teus Cabelos” (short film) 2020
Director of Photography - “Filhos de Dulcina” (documentary) 2016
Director of Photography - “Epíteto de Venûs” (short film) 2015
Director of Photography - “Jovens Empreendedores” (documentary) 2015
Recognitions and Awards
Best Audiovisual Advertising Production for Internet of the Regional Intercom (2019);
Best Fiction Screenplay of the Intercom Regional (2019);
Best Moving Photography of the Regional Intercom (2018);
Best Jingle oh the Regional Intercom (2018);
Best Spot of the Regional Intercom (2018);
Best Poster the Regional Intercom (2018);
Winner of the Aberje University Award (2017);
Best Graphic Design of the Regional Intercom (2017);
Best Advertising Photography of the Intercom Regional (2017)
Best Motion Photography of the Regional Intercom (2017).
Education
PhD Candidate in Film and Television Studies - University of Warwick - 2026
M.A in Communication and Consumer Practices - Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM) - 2022
Bachelor in Performing Arts - University of Brasilia (UnB) - 2018
Bachelor in Social Communication - University of Brasilia (UnB) - 2018
Publications
Almeida, G.; Zacariotti, D. (2023). “Do I fuck you or do you fuck me? Performance, pornotopy and aesthetical reivindication of the violence in Baise-moi by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi”. Book of Colloque Virtuel Internationel Politiques et Récits du Corps 2021.
Gelain, G.; Zacariotti, D. (2023). “I’m just Walter Mercado: iconography and iconoclasm as ruminant performative epistemology in Walter Mercado”. Book of the Mucho Mucho Amor International Symposium: Walter Mercado's media complexity.
Zacariotti, D. (2021). “Aesthetics and politics in the embodied political subjectivity of Linn da Quebrada”. In: 44th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.
Zacariotti, D. Massimini, A. (2021). “Subjection and Epistemic Violence in Conversion Therapies and Religious Discourse”. In: 44th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.
Rocha, R.; Zacariotti, D. (2021). “Displaced authorship and audio-visibilities engaged in “Bixa Travesty”. REBECA: Brazilian Journal of Film and Audiovisual Studies. v. 9, n.3.
Almeida, G.; Zacariotti, D. (2021). “Baise-moi or laisse-moi te baiser: underground feminine and escapes from representations in the work of Virginie Despentes”. In: Résumés des communications Colloque Virtuel International Politiques et Récits du Corps.
Zacariotti, D. (2021). “From recognition to the redistribution of dissident genres based on language as power”. Journal Temática. v. 17, p. 61.
Zacariotti, D. (2020). “Possible knowledge practices for undisciplined bodies”. In: 43rd Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.
Molina, A.; Ferreira, G.; Zacariotti, D.; Silva, V. (2019). “Pornography and Imaginary: the problematic reproduction of fetishized bodies and subjectivities within porn films”. INICIACOM: Brazilian Journal of Scientific Initiation. v. 8, n.2, p.
Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2018). “Transvestite sex as a political factor”. In: 56th International Congress of Americanists. Salamanca: ICA.
Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2018). “Gender and Experience”. In: 1st Aquenda on Communication, Genders and Sexualities. Porto Alegre: UFRGS Publisher.
Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2018). “Journalistic coverage related to the death of transvestites in Brazil: a portrait of disrespect for gender identity in the Laura Vermont case”. In: 41st Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.
Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2017). “The fervor is also a fight”. In: 40th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.
Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2017). “Trans Identities on Tinder”. In: 39th Brazilian Congress of Communication Sciences. São Paulo: INTERCOM.
Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2017). “Pornoeducation: analysis of imaginaries generated in digital pornography”. In: 2nd SEJA. Goiânia: UEG Publisher.
Molina, A.; Zacariotti, D. (2017). “Binarity and sign in advertising films”. In: 2nd SEJA. Goiânia: UEG Publisher.
Gomes, V.; Zacariotti, D. (2016). “Research of texts on organizational strategy”. In: 15th SECOMUNICA. Brasília: UCB Publisher.