Biography
Paola Calvo was born in Venezuela on May 22, 1981. In 2005, she completed her Master's degree in Audiovisual Communication at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid. In 2006, she began studying at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb), specializing in documentary film (directing and cinematography). During her studies she worked as a cinematographer on films by fellow students and co-directed the short feature film "35.000 Stunden" (2009), about the last night together of a separated couple, with Julia Langhof. For the camera work of Katarina Schröter's documentary "The Visitor" (2014) she received the award for Best Cinematography at the Film Festival achtung berlin 2014.
Calvo graduated from dffb as cinematographer, producer and director of the long documentary "Violently Happy" (2016), in which she explored the seemingly contradictory relationship between happiness and violence through different people. In the following years, she directed an episode of the web series "Straight Family" (2017) and participated as a cinematographer in several short films.
In 2019, she founded the production company Tumult together with Patrick Jasim and Phillip Kaminiak in Berlin. That same year, she and Jasim began work on the documentary "Luchdoras" (DE/MX), about three female wrestlers from the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juarez who defy their country's often violent machismo and seek to redefine the image of women in Mexico. The film premiered at the Austin (Texas) film festival SXWS in March 2021, due to the pandemic online. Numerous other festival screenings around the world followed. At the Hof Film Festival, "Luchdoras" won the Documentary Award; at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, it received the FIPRESCI Critics Award, the Special Jury Award and the Audience Award; at the Nottingham International Film Festival, "Luchadoras" was also awarded Best Documentary, and Calvo and Jasim won Best Director. The film's German theatrical release was in March 2022.