Hi, hello! I’m Cynthia Oliveira Souza (also known as Cyn).
I’m a Brazilian-American filmmaker, visual artist, and storyteller based in New York City.
Born to immigrant parents from Minas Gerais, Brazil, my work is deeply shaped by cultural memory, longing, and emotional perception. I began creating in my formative years, when painting and movies became lifelines as I navigated mental health struggles. At age 11, I discovered video editing through fan edits on Vine and YouTube, which sparked over a decade of self-taught exploration across editing, animation, and visual effects.
One of my early edits, made before I turned 18, garnered over 89,000 views and hundreds of comments, with people describing the work as “a longing for something I don’t know.”. That early experimentation—cutting music, film, and television scenes into emotional montages seen by tens of thousands of viewers online—formed my intuitive approach to rhythm, pacing, and visual storytelling.
I hold a degree in Visual Arts with minors in Film Studies and Theatre from Roger Williams University. Since then, I’ve worked across narrative features, short films, and animation, wearing many hats including Costume Designer, Producer, Assistant Camera, Camera Operator, DIT, Animator, and Editor.
My films and collaborative projects have screened at festivals including Roxbury International Film Festival, Pan African Film Festival, and Athens Film Festival. I’m also the founder of OLVRA, a creative collective and studio focused on intimate, artist-driven projects.
Beyond film, I write, sew, paint, and research endlessly. You can check out my hand-drawn animation and illustrations on my separate website by clicking here, and read my film reviews and thoughts on cinema on Letterboxd.
Cyn <3
I appreciate your taking the time to explore my work.
:3