SARA CF DE GOUVEIA - FILMOGRAPHY

FEATURES

WE, PEOPLE OF THE ISLANDS (80min, Dir: Elson Santos & Lara de Sousa, Cape Verde/Mozambique/Portugal, 2025)

Cinematographer/Editor 

FESTIVALS:

  • IndieLisboa - May 2025 (Portugal) 

  • Auditório Nacional - July 2025 (Cape Verde)

  • Cinéma du Réel - March 2026 (France)

  • Black Star Film Festival 2026 (U.S.A.)

ALBIE: A STRANGE ALCHEMY (90min, Documentary, South Africa, 2025)

Director

Commissioned by The Albie Collection

FESTIVALS:

  • Encounters South African Documentary Film Festival 2025 (South Africa) 

    • Nominated for Best Editing


THE SOUND OF MASKS (South Africa/Portugal, 70min, 2018) 

Director/Cinematographer

SUPPORTED BY:

  • National Film and Video Foundation, South Africa 

  • IDFA Bertha Fund, Holland 

  • Hot Docs Blue Ice Fund, Canada 

  • RTP, Portugal

www.thesoundofmasks.com 

NOMINATIONS & AWARDS:

- Winner: Plateau International Film Festival 2019 

  • Best Feature Documentary in the International Section

- Winner: 14th South African Film and Television Awards for

  • Best Achievement in Cinematography in a Documentary

- Nominated: 14th South African Film and Television Awards for

  • Best Feature Documentary

  • Best Editing in a Documentary

- Winner: 7th Brazil Festival of International Cinema 2021

  • Best Direction

  • Best International Feature

- In Competition: Best South African Documentary-Durban International Film Festival 2019

FESTIVALS:

  • World Premiere IDFA 2018 (Holland) 

  • Marrakesh International Film Festival 2018 (Morocco) 

  • Hot Docs 2019 (Canada) 

  • New York African Film Festival 2019 (U.S.A.) 

  • MUICA 2019 (Colombia) 

  • Mostra de Cinema Africano 2019 (Brazil) 

  • Encounters International South African Film Festival 2019 (South Africa) 

  • Durban International Film Festival 2019 (South Africa) 

  • Africa in Motion 2019 (Scotland) 

  • DocLisboa 2019 (Portugal) 

  • AFRIFF 2019 (Nigeria)

BROADCAST ON:

RTP2 & RTP Africa, Showmax & PBS

SHORTS & MID-LENGHT

THE NIGHTS WERE VELVET (15min, Poetic documentary, South Africa, 2026)

Director/Co-writer/Editor

Funded by PESP/NFVF

  • Joburg Film Festival 2026 (South Africa)

  • Nga Maanda Awe Film Festival 2026 (South Africa)

    • Winner: DFA - Best Editing Award

  • Ann Arbor Black Film Festival 2026 (USA)

  • Vrystaat Kunstefees 2026 (South Africa)

  • 8th Accra Indie Filmfest 2026 (Ghana)

DREAM’S DESCENT (10min, South Africa, 2025)

Producer/Co-writer/Co-director

Supported by PESP/NFVF and IFAS

FESTIVALS:

  • Experimental, Dance & Music Film Festival 2025 (Canada)

    • Winner: Best Visual Design

  • HangartFest 2025 (Italy)

  • Bucharest International Dance Film Festival 2025 (Romania)

  • Creation Africa Forum Lagos 2025 (Nigeria)

  • InShadow 2025 (Portugal)

  • Joburg Underground film festival 2025 (South Africa)

  • IMMAGI]NA Film Festival 2025 (Italy)

  • Cultur'halle Film Festival 2025 (Switzerland)

  • Dance Camera West Film Festival 2026 (LA, USA)

  • East Coast Dance Arts 2026 (Ireland)

  • Wunderground Film Festival 2026 (Belgium)

ECHOES OF THE LAND (10min, video-art piece, South Africa, 2025)

Director

Created during the Bodhi Khaya Art Residency 2024

EXHIBITIONS & AWARDS:

  • Winner: Best SA Short Film - Vrystaat Arts Festival Vlieks 2025 (South Africa)

  • Of Three: Pop up exhibition - Everard Read in Cape Town 2025 (South Africa)

  • Cloud Ecologies: Video Club Cape Town Feb 2026 (South Africa)

  • Fragments of Becoming: Art Exhibition - Cultural Alleys/VšĮ Kultūros Alėjos 2026 (Lithuania)


LIKE WATER (South Africa, 14min, 2021) 

Producer/Co-director/Cinematographer

NOMINATIONS & AWARDS:

  • SAFTA - Nominated for Best Documentary Short 2021


MOTHER TO MOTHER (South Africa, 48min, 2020)

Director

Produced by The Ergo Company and Seashore Films 

Funded by the National Film and Video Foundation of South Africa 

NOMINATIONS & AWARDS:

  • Nominated: 2021 SAFTA awards

  • Best Documentary

  • Best Cinematography

  • Best Sound

  • Winner: Writers Guild of South Africa Muse Award

  • Best Documentary Script 2020

  • Runner-up: Adiaha Award 2020

  • Best documentary film

IN PRODUCTION & POST-PRODUCTION

RE-STITCHING DISTRICT SIX (Dir: Ayesha Mukadam, 90min, In production, South Africa)

Director of Photography

REIMAGINE FREEDOM (Desmond Tutu Foundation, Series, in production, South Africa)

Director of Photography

COMMISSIONED FILMS & OTHER WORK

HEALING TEXTILES (Documentary, 30min, Mozambique, 2024)

Producer/Director

CGTN/Storyscope

PULA E YA NA (Visual storytelling, 15min, South Africa, 2024)

Director/Cinematographer

Collaborative performance between visual artist Atang Tshikare and Teboho Mochaoa (Morena Leraba) at the

Everead Gallery, Cape Town

TIDES OF LIFE (Documentary, 30min, Zanzibar, 2024)

Producer/Director

CGTN/Storyscope

PIECES OF A PUZZLE (Documentary, 30min, South Africa, 2023)

Producer/Director

CGTN/Storyscope

YEHLA MOYA (Video Art, Dir: Buhlebezwe Siwani, South Africa, 10min, 2022)

Cinematographer/Editor

Presented at the National Arts Festival 2022

CITY OCCUPIED (Documentary, 30min, South Africa, Brazil, Colombia, 2022)

Producer/Director/Editor

Funded by UKRI, SHLC and GCRF

MILLENNIAL LOVE (Pilot episode for drama series, South Africa, 2021)

Cinematographer