The crime shocked Brazil: Elize Matsunaga shot and dismembered her rich husband. Featuring her first interview, this documentary dives deep into the case.
Eliza Capai is an independent documentary filmmaker who focuses on social issues. She is especially interested in amplifying voices from marginalized sectors of society in order to foster empathy in audiences. Thinking about creative modes of production, narration, and distribution are also priorities in her work.
Capai directed the first Brazilian Original Netflix docuseries production: ""Elize Matsunaga: Once Upon a Crime"" in 2021. The true crime series visits one of Brazil's most notorious crimes and features the first interview Elize Matsunaga gave after murdering her husband.
Capai´s latest film, “Your Turn” (Espero tua (re)volta), is about the student takeover of schools in response to educational budget cuts in Brazil. It premiered at Berlinale (2019) and was awarded with International Amnesty Prize and Peace Prize. Since that, the film was released in 100+ festivals and received 20+ awards.
Her second movie, “The Tortoise and the Tapir”, investigates the gigantic hydroelectric plants built and planned in the middle of the Amazon forest during Brazil’s worst drought in decades.
Her first feature, “Here Is So Far” is based on encounters with women during a seven-month trip in Africa. In its premiere at New Trends at Rio International Film Festival, the documentary was awarded Best Feature. It received multiple awards in Brazil and abroad.
Capai graduated from Universidade de São Paulo with a degree in journalism and was a fellow at MIT Open Documentary Lab.