Marie-Pierre Brêtas

Born and raised in Toulouse, Marie-Pierre Brêtas spent part of her childhood in Oran, where her parents left to work in the midst of the post-independence turmoil, and then in Thiais, in the Paris suburbs.
After completing a hypokhâgne and a spell at the Sorbonne, she became a journalist at Le Matin, freelancing for various publications, including Actuel.
She then moved to New York, where for the next 3 years she worked at some odd jobs: housekeeper, cook at the Chelsea Hotel, assistant set designer on some shootings, including one of Paul Morrissey’s latest films. Passionate about cinema from an early age, she returned to Paris and tried her hand at self-taught filmmaking, trained at the IIIS and then the Ateliers Varan. She then directed Mon travail c’est capital for Arte, about the closure of a Moulinex factory.
Married to Brazilian painter Marcos Brêtas, she shoots La Campagne de Saõ José in the Nordeste, selected at the FID and Grand Prix du Fidadoc, then Hautes Terres, mention of the Jury at Cinéma du Réel in 2014 and released in theaters.
In 2022, she presented La Lumière des rêves in competition at Cinéma du Réel.