Carolina Pfister is a Brazilian American writer and multimedia artist born in exile to Brazilian parents fleeing dictatorship. Growing up across languages and geographies is an inheritance that continues to animate her work. An award-winning documentary filmmaker, Carolina came of age in Brazil’s punk movement as both artist and organizer, and has spent decades shaping narrative across media, the arts, and youth-serving organizations in Brazil and the United States. She is currently completing her debut narrative nonfiction manuscript, Other Bastards. Originally from Brazil, she now lives in the Pacific Northwest.
Represented by:
Noelle Falcis-Math & Eva Oakes at Transatlantic Agency
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A escritora, artista multimídia e fundadora de projetos sociais Carolina Pfister nasceu na Europa em uma família brasileira que fugiu da ditadura. Criada entre línguas e territórios, escreve a partir das tensões entre exílio e reinvenção. Seu trabalho atravessa a não ficção literária, o cinema e a fotografia, com raízes em sua formação na cena punk brasileira. Atualmente finaliza seu livro de estreia, Outros Bastardos. Hoje vive no noroeste dos Estados Unidos.
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Recent Essays:
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“Floating Down, Unafraid” - The Offing - on shame and motherhood, marriage and risk.
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“Spot it Got it: Vying for Legitimacy in my Americas” - The Acentos Review - on language as belonging.
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“My Atoms Were There, My Atoms Are Here” - Cagibi Journal - on formative homes and particle accelerators.
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“On Moving On - Women’s Autobiographical Writing as an Act of Letting Go” - The Artisanal Writer
Selected Residencies, Awards, and Creative Work
Artist residencies include Hypatia-in-the-Woods (2023, 2020) and Caldera Arts Center (2019, 2018). Honors and grants include the Women in Film Emerging Latina Filmmaker Award, a Chicago Emmy Award for Informational Programming, and an Oregon Regional Arts & Culture Council Project Grant. Her documentary, audio, and short film work centers on questions of hybridity, belonging, culture, and place. Projects include Viva Viva, a portrait of São Paulo’s punk movement, and I See You, an audio essay on motherhood, gentrification, and community. She participated in the Third Coast International Audio Festival cohort, and her work has screened and aired at venues including Cinemateca Brasileira (São Paulo), the Chicago International Film Festival, In-Edit Brasil, CBGB Festival, the Curitiba International Film Festival, and public radio. She has also worked as a segment producer for public television, an art director at MTV Brasil, and an art educator at Walker’s Point Center for the Arts and the Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo.
Nonprofit Leadership, Languages, and Education
Carolina co-founded and served as Executive Director of CultureSeed (2018–2025), a youth-centered nonprofit providing long-term outdoor immersion and mental health programs for rural communities. Her prior leadership and communications work includes roles with national and international organizations focused on food security, youth development, and the arts.
Carolina is fluent in Brazilian Portuguese and English, with advanced working proficiency in Spanish and French. She holds an MFA in Experimental Film, where she received a full graduate teaching fellowship, and a BA in Film on academic merit scholarship.
