Katalina Gutierrez

Katalina Gutierrez is a freelance filmmaker and photographer currently based in New York. During the last five years, she has focused on creating shorts, working in documentary projects and teaching. In 2013, she began the short film Ophelia-a story that captures the lives of two women from different times getting close to each other through a painting inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet. The film utilizes the nature of dreams to represent women's psyches and discusses certain historical gendered representations in western classical literature.

Katalina received her first camera at the age of fifteen while taking classes in photography and design in high school. She studied Fine Arts and Sociology with a focus in Painting and Photography in Latin America.

Katalina spent a year in Mexico City studying traditional painting techniques. During that time, she became passionate about capturing the most fascinating imagery from the landscape with her SLR camera. Exposed to the rich Mexican Aztec and Mayan culture, she created a picture book and also collaborated in a multimedia piece about poet and scholar Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz.

Eventually, Katalina traveled to New Orleans, where she received a scholarship to study at the New Orleans Academy of Art. In New Orleans, she captured on camera the mystic subtleties of the French Quarter and the characters that are part of it, with their colorful masks and enchanting music. One year later, she moved to New York, seeking new elements for her work. Her photography and shorts have been influenced by German expressionism, and surrealism. Filmmakers such as Werner Schroeter, Andrei Tarkovsky, and the Quay Brothers have been a source of inspiration in her personal exploration. Katalina's interest in Asian philosophy and meditation has also influenced her work and creative practice.

Many of Katalina’s films focus on minority rights. Some of the documentaries she shot as a cinematographer have been screened internationally. One of them, “A winter with Delivery Workers,” was featured in the NY Times and exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York (2019).

Her film, “Ophelia”, was part of the official selection at the Video Art and Experimental Film Festival in NY and won best sound design at the Athens Film Festival (2023)..

Education:

Bachelor of Science in Film, Media, and Women Studies, . City University of New York. New York City. 2014-2017
Lighting Techniques for HD, School of Visual Arts. New York City. 2013
Bachelor of Photography and Sociology, University of Costa Rica.2012

Exhibitions and Screenings:

2021 Libreria Barco de Papel. Film Screening: “Path to the Mirror Act 1.” Queens, NY.

2017 Museo El Barrio. Photography Exhibit: The Double. New York City

2013 The Upstream Gallery.“Paper Works.”Hastings-On-Hudson, NY.

2011 Paper City,“Book= Art Object.” Massachusetts.

2008 Aldo Gallery, Ibero-America Artists Group exhibit. Chicago.

2008 Maison Rouge Gallery. Group exhibit. Chicago.

2007 The White Room.Group exhibit. Williamsburg, NY.

2006 Art Students League. Group exhibit. New York, NY.

2005 New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. Group exhibit. New Orleans, LA.

2005 Carol Robinson Gallery group show. New Orleans, LA.

Languages

English and Spanish