ABOUT
Elected as one of American Cinematographer's Rising Stars of 2018, Carolina Costa, AMC, has traveled the world lensing critically-acclaimed feature films, documentaries, shorts, and commercials.
Carolina's most recent credits include serving as Director of Photography on Ryan Murphy and Max Winkler's FX/Disney series GROTESQUERIE; MONSTER: THE ED GEIN STORY (Season 3, Episodes 4 & 5) for Netflix; EL REY DEL DRAMA, directed by Carlos Lenin for Pimienta Films/Amazon (just wrapped); and NO JARDIM DO OGRO, directed by Carolina Jabor for Conspiração/Disney (currently in post-production). She is also the DP on the upcoming feature OLMO, directed by Fernando Eimbcke, which premiered at the Berlinale 2025.
A Sundance darling, Carolina has served as Director of Photography for five films that have premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. She lensed FANCY DANCE, starring Killers of the Flower Moon Oscar-nominee Lily Gladstone and directed by Erica Tremblay, which premiered at Sundance 2023 and is now streaming on Apple TV+. She also DP'd HEROICO, directed by Mexican filmmaker David Zonana — whom she previously collaborated with on WORK FORCE — which premiered at Sundance 2023 and competed in the 2023 Camerimage Directors' Debuts Competition, earning Carolina her third Ariel Award nomination for Best Cinematography in 2024.
Her films have also premiered at Cannes, Tribeca, SXSW, the Berlinale, and more. Carolina has been nominated for numerous awards and won the SXSW 2023 ZEISS Cinematography Award for Fancy Dance, Tribeca's 2023 Best Cinematography Award for THE GRADUATES directed by Hannah Peterson, and the 2022 Women in Media + ZEISS Altitude Award. She was also featured on Variety's list of "10 Latinxs To Watch in 2020."
Carolina's first feature as Director of Photography, THE CHOSEN ONES, with director David Pablos, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The film won five Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences' Ariel Awards, including Carolina's win for Best Cinematography. Her work was praised by The Hollywood Reporter as "a handsomely shot feature." In 2020, Carolina and Pablos reunited on the Netflix film DANCE OF THE 41, which earned her a second Ariel Award nomination for Best Cinematography.
Some of Carolina's additional credits include: WANDER DARKLY, starring Diego Luna and Sienna Miller, which premiered at Sundance 2020; HALA, produced by Jada Pinkett Smith and directed by Minhal Baig, which premiered at Sundance 2019; Tinder's first interactive series SWIPE NIGHT, directed by Karena Evans; ICEBOX, produced by three-time Oscar-winning producer James L. Brooks, which premiered at TIFF 2018; the multiple award-winning CRYSTAL SWAN, directed by Darya Zhuk; THEY, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival; Max Winkler's Tribeca film FLOWER, starring Zoey Deutch; the pilot and early episodes of Amazon's HIGH SCHOOL, directed by Clea Duvall; and BABENCO: TELL ME WHEN I DIE, directed by Bárbara Paz, which won Best Documentary at the 2021 Venice Film Festival.
Carolina also handled second-unit cinematography and B-camera on Luca Guadagnino's critically-acclaimed SUSPIRIA, starring Tilda Swinton and Dakota Johnson, and lensed several episodes of the HBO Emmy Award-winning series INSECURE, with episodes directed by Kerry Washington, Natasha Rothwell, and Amy Aniobi.
Originally from Brazil, Carolina studied at the University of the Arts London, where she was mentored by Sue Gibson, the renowned first female president of the British Society of Cinematographers. She then moved to Los Angeles and earned her Master's in Cinematography from the American Film Institute. Her AFI thesis film Way in Rye competed at Camerimage in Poland, followed by her AFI alumni short Contrapelo, which premiered at Tribeca before being shortlisted for the Academy Awards.