Samira Vera-Cruz is a Cape-Verdean film director and producer with experience across Cabo Verde, Angola, and Mozambique. She holds a BA in Film Studies with a minor in Global Communications from the American University of Paris. Samira has directed the narrative feature BUSKA SANTU (2016) and the short doc HORA DI BAI (2017), while her documentary feature project AND WHO WILL COOK? earned her accolades at Talents Durban 2019, FIDADOC, Durban FilmMart, and Ouaga Film Lab, where she won both the IDFA and World Cinema Fund/Goethe Institute Awards. Her latest work, the short hybrid documentary SUMARA MARÉ(2023), was financed by NEWF and UNDP’s Accelerator Lab and was part of the NEWF Producers' Lab, an initiative in collaboration with the National Geographic Society. In 2023, she became a scuba diver through Africa Refocused and sje is currently pursuing dive master accreditation while honing her underwater cinematography skills. Samira is developing the feature-length documentary PLASTIC ATLANTIS, which has secured development funding from South African Steps and from Visions du Réel.