About

Lucas Silva Pereira

Oceanographer and documentary filmmaker. I was born in Arraial do Cabo into a family of artisanal fishers, and today I live between Arraial and Rio de Janeiro.

DirectionCameraEditing and colorOceanographyMangroves

In the mangrove, in the field

I grew up among the nets my grandfather wove, watching my uncles head out to fish with a big thermos of coffee, with fish on the table every day. The sea was never a backdrop. It was home, livelihood and the culture of the family.

That bond led me to study the oceans. I earned my degree and my master’s in Oceanography, and today I am a PhD candidate in Biological Oceanography at UERJ, at the Mangrove Studies Center (NEMA). Far from home, I realized that scientific data alone rarely reaches people’s hearts. Science needs translation; it needs stories. That is how filmmaking became my second calling.

At Benthos, where I am co-founder and director of programs, I direct, film, edit and color grade the Benthos Story Lab documentaries alongside Francielly Monteiro. We work with communities to tell how traditional knowledge and science care for the ocean.

What I do

Direction and writing

From research and script to directing in the field, always together with the people who tell the story.

Camera and photography

Documentary, portraits, photo essays and underwater camera. From the mangrove to the seabed.

Editing and color

Editing, finishing and color grading for the documentaries and the Roots and Algorithms series.

Science

Research on mangroves, leaf litter, climate modeling and machine learning.

Protecting the ocean is not just a career choice. It is about protecting my own family and history, and making sure the voices of coastal communities are heard.