March, 2026.- In the competitive 2026 audiovisual directing landscape, where efficiency and metrics often dominate the conversation, Lua Voigt emerges as a voice reclaiming sensitivity as the most powerful tool for impact. Recently joining the Surreal Hotel Arts roster, Voigt brings a “living archive” of visual memories forged in painting, watercolor, and photography—disciplines that inform every frame and texture of her work. Her craft is not merely technical execution; it is, in her own words, “painting in motion.” This artistic vision, combined with an unwavering commitment to opening spaces for LGBTQIAPN+ voices and women within the Latin American industry, has positioned her as one of the region’s most significant directors, backed by milestones like the Silver Lion at Cannes for her courageous “The Forbidden Gift Shop” campaign for Mercado Libre.
In this exclusive interview with Roastbrief, Lua Voigt breaks down how she protects creative honesty against today’s market pressures. From her experience collaborating with giants like Apple and Absolut to her perspective on the evolving role of women in directing, Voigt explains that diversity is not a protocol, but an expansion of the creative lens on the world. Discover how this director manages to adapt her artistic signature to vastly different brand identities, always maintaining a human focus that prioritizes emotion over format. For Lua, the success of a narrative does not lie in following a template, but in finding the right light, rhythm, and precise gesture that turns an advertisement into a real and lasting connection with the audience.
1. The Move to Surreal Hotel Arts: You’ve joined Surreal Hotel Arts at a moment when the production house is strengthening its roster with distinctive creative voices. What drew you specifically to Surreal, and how does their approach to storytelling align with your own creative sensibility?
What attracted me most to Surreal was feeling that diversity there is not just a discourse to comply with protocol—it is a real commitment, lived day-to-day. There is a very open environment where different voices and perspectives actually have space. At the same time, I perceived a very large amount of creative freedom.
It is a place where ideas can circulate, be discussed, and matured in a very empathetic way. This makes me very calm, because I feel that I can express myself with more intensity and honesty as a director. This combination of listening, respect, and creative freedom makes the way Surreal thinks about narrative dialogue very naturally with my own sensitivity.
2. From Painting to Directing: Your background is rooted in painting and photography before moving into directing. How do those artistic disciplines inform your visual language as a director? Is there something you carry from the canvas to the set?
Different forms of artistic expression have always been part of my life since childhood. I draw, paint watercolors, photograph, do ceramics, rugs… I’ve always had a very natural relationship with the gesture of creating images. I think this comes from a very visual perception of the world; I easily register scenes, framing, colors, textures. I often keep these “frames” in my memory for years.
When I am directing, I feel that all of this comes back in some way. It is as if this visual memory were a living archive that is accessed on set. The references I saw, felt, or imagined end up mixing together and appearing in the way I think about art direction, framing, light, and proportion within the frame. At its core, directing for me is almost like painting in motion: composing images that carry emotion, atmosphere, and small layers of visual memory accumulated throughout life.
3. The Silver Lion Campaign: Your work on “The Forbidden Gift Shop” for Mercado Libre earned a Silver Lion at Cannes. Can you walk us through the creative journey of that campaign? What made it resonate so strongly with audiences and juries alike?
The campaign was born from a very real and delicate context. The Museum of Sexual Diversity, a fundamental space for LGBTQIAPN+ memory and culture in Brazil, had been closed amidst a landscape of conservatism and lack of institutional support. The agency’s idea was to create something that wasn’t just a campaign, but a concrete action of support for the museum, and from that emerged the first museum store within Mercado Livre.
As a director, my challenge was to transform this initiative into a sensitive and inviting narrative experience. We worked with Liniker as the guide for this journey, creating an interactive video tour in which the audience could explore the works, meet the artists, and at the same time, access the official museum store. The visual language needed to balance information, emotion, and accessibility, allowing the viewer to navigate through the history and culture presented there.
I believe the impact of the campaign comes precisely from this combination: it does not limit itself to talking about diversity, it creates a real gesture of support and visibility. By using the strength of a brand like Mercado Livre, we managed not only to amplify the message but also to open a new path for financing cultural initiatives. For me, as a director, it was very special to be able to build a piece that connects storytelling, technology, and social impact. Perhaps that is why it touched both the audience and the juries so much, because at its core it is a simple idea, but with a very great cultural and human power.
4. Female Directing in Latin America: In 2020, you won Gold at El Ojo + Mujeres Directoras, and you’re recognized as one of the leading female voices in directing across Latin America. How do you see the landscape evolving for women directors in the region, and what work still needs to be done?
I believe that it is still a constant struggle. Being a woman director, and also a gay woman, often means occupying places that historically were not designed for us. The advertising market, just like the audiovisual industry in general, still carries very traditional structures, and for that reason, minorities frequently need to prove their capability more times, or with more intensity.
At the same time, I have seen important advances. There is a new generation of directors, creatives, and professionals that is occupying spaces and bringing other perspectives to narratives. This is very powerful, because diversity is not just a matter of representation, it also expands the creative look upon the world.
I think what still needs to happen is a more structural transformation: more trust in diverse voices, more real opportunities, and more women, LGBTQIAPN+ people, and other minorities in decision-making positions. The more plural the market is, the richer and more truthful the stories we tell will be.
5. Working Across Global Brands: Your portfolio includes work for Apple, Absolut, Jeep, Unilever, and P&G—brands with very different visual identities and audience expectations. How do you adapt your directorial approach for each brand while maintaining your own creative signature?
This is a question that appears a lot when they talk about my work. I like to think that each brand asks for a different film, almost as if each project had its own language.
Before any aesthetic decision, I seek to dive into the brand’s universe: to understand what it wants to say, to whom it is talking, and what emotion it needs to provoke. From that, I start to think about the direction, the framing, the lenses, the rhythm of the images, the way the light touches the characters or the product.
My signature appears a lot in this sensitive look at details and storytelling, but the visual form changes a lot from project to project. Some brands ask for a more precise and sharp image, others ask for more dramatic light or a camera closer to the skin, the textures, the small emotions. In the end, what interests me most is finding the right way to tell that story. The technique, the lens, the framing, and the light are always at the service of the narrative, so that each film has its own identity, but still carries a sensitivity that is very much my own as a director.
6. The Power of Sensitivity in Storytelling: You’ve spoken about being drawn to spaces where there’s “room for sensitivity, for exchange, and for new ways of telling stories.” In a fast-paced advertising world driven by metrics and efficiency, how do you protect that sensitivity and ensure it remains at the heart of your work?
Advertising today truly lives at a very fast pace, with many decisions guided by metrics and performance. But I believe that sensitivity is not the opposite of efficiency; in fact, it is what gives depth to stories.
In my process, I always try to start with the human side of the narrative. Before thinking about format or performance, I ask myself what that story wants to make the audience feel. It is in this space that sensitivity appears: in the choice of a look, in the way the camera observes a character, in the light, in the timing of a gesture.
I also try very hard to protect the space for creative dialogue with the team. The best ideas generally arise from these exchanges—between direction, photography, art, cast. When there is trust in this process, we manage to create films that are efficient for the brand, but that also carry truth and emotion. In the end, I believe the audience perceives when there is care and intention in a narrative. Even in a fast market like advertising, sensitivity remains one of the most powerful tools we have to create real connection with people.
