Júlia Murat

She attended the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro where she studied graphic design and went on to the Darcy Ribeiro Film School where she studied screenwriting.^[5][6][7]

Her first documentary was Dia Dos Pais [Father's Day] which she co-directed and produced with Leo Bittencourt in 2008.^[8][9] It premiered at Cinéma du Reel in 2008.^[8][9]

In 2011, she moved into fiction films. She directed and co-wrote her first narrative feature film Found Memories (Portuguese: Histórias que só Existem Quando Lembradas, 2011) in 2011.^[1][2] It premiered at the Venice Film Festival^[1][2] and was reviewed positively by critics.^[10][11] In his review, A.O. Scott of The New York Times described Murat as "an unobtrusive observer with a strong and confident visual sense."^[12]

In 2017, she released her second narrative feature film, Pendular,^[13] which won the FIPRESCI Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.^[3][14][15] Murat co-wrote the film with her partner Matias Mariani, about two artists trying to navigate their lives together.^[16] The film was praised by The New York Times and the newspaper listed Murat as a filmmaker to watch.^[17] That same year, she also released the documentary Law and Order Assurance Operations (Operações de Garantia Da Lei E Da Ordem) (2017).^[18]

In 2020, Murat continued her writing collaborations with Matias Mariani, and was a co-writer on his film Shine Your Eyes.^[19][20]

In 2022, she released her feature film Rule 34 (2022) at the Locarno Film Festival where it won the Golden Leopard for best film.^[4] Murat sees the film as an interweaving of sex and politics and said she developed the main character, Simone, by listening to former pornographic actress Sasha Grey discuss the risk and limits inherent in making pornography.^[21]

As of 2017, she was in a six-year relationship with Brazilian filmmaker Matias Mariani.^[16] The couple have two children together.^[16] Her mother is Brazilian filmmaker, Lúcia Murat.^[1][21]