After the success of Memorarium, the short film she stars in that premiered this month at the Chelsea Film Festival in New York, Marta Torres continues her journey in the United States. This time the destination is Los Angeles, for the world premiere of Sweet Suite California, a short film shot in Hollywood.
The actress and filmmaker arrives at LABRFF, the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival, as a nominee for Best International Short. Competing in the category is already a remarkable achievement for a film produced by an independent female artist.
Watch the Trailer
A Suitcase Full of Hollywood Illusions
In the film, Marta plays Courtney, a foreign social media influencer who arrives in California carrying a suitcase full of Hollywood illusions. In the city of her sweetest fantasies, she encounters a starkly different reality: a surreal take on the American Dream.
Inspired by a true story, Courtney’s journey guides the viewer through urgent global themes: online addiction, mental health, digital exploitation and human trafficking. These subjects are especially pressing now, with the Epstein case in the United States and the Vorcaro case in Brazil. The film also confronts homelessness, an issue in focus around the world right now.
A Low-Budget Film With Global Reach
Sweet Suite California is a low-budget production with a truly global reach. It was shot entirely in Los Angeles with an international cast featuring actors from Brazil, Russia, the United States, Turkey, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. Its universal themes, multicultural cast and a Brazilian filmmaker’s perspective on U.S. soil make it a work that crosses boundaries, both narrative and geographic.
Technology and Human Behavior
The Los Angeles premiere marks the starting point. The production arrives at the festival hoping its bold, socially engaged approach will resonate with a circuit committed to storytelling that goes beyond entertainment to invite reflection.
For Marta, Sweet Suite California continues an artistic journey focused on the impact of new technologies on human behavior. The theme also runs through Virtuality (2024), a short film she produced, directed and starred in, which premiered at the Chelsea Film Festival in New York, and Memorarium, written and directed by João Castro and starring Marta and actor Marcus Liberato, which premiered at the Chelsea Film Festival in 2026. Now, on Californian soil, the filmmaker invites audiences to consider how we can respond, together, to the challenges new technologies pose.
Exclusive Interview: 10 Questions for Brazilian Actress and Filmmaker Marta Torres
1. From Brazil to Hollywood: Your Filmmaking Journey
As a Brazilian actress, director, and producer making your mark on the international film festival circuit, what inspired your journey into filmmaking, and how has your cultural background influenced the stories you choose to tell?
Before learning to express myself artistically, I worked as a bank employee, a teacher, a police chief, and a public defender, and I earned a master’s degree in bioethics. I grew up in a quiet town with incredible natural surroundings, yet also marked by appalling social inequality. This background informs both my screenwriting and the characters I portray-whether in film, theater, or literature. Fantasy also serves as a way to escape a harsh reality, which is why my work almost always contains a touch of surrealism here and there.
2. The Inspiration Behind Sweet Suite California
Your latest short film, Sweet Suite California, explores the darker realities behind the American Dream. What inspired this story, and how does Courtney’s experience reflect the challenges faced by immigrants and aspiring artists arriving in Los Angeles?
I first heard the story of the film’s main character a few years ago, through a CIA secret agent who had worked on a case like hers. When I arrived in California 2022 to further my studies in film acting, I realized there were other urgent matters that should be added to the story, much like a ticking time bomb. I believe that bomb has now gone off, and the whole world has some sense that the film is, in fact, inspired by true events that must be brought into discussion now. It is a film that invites the viewer to reflect on various issues-things that are difficult to confront, yet entirely possible.
3. Hollywood’s Illusions and the Reality of Digital Exploitation
In Sweet Suite California, Courtney is a foreign social media influencer navigating a world shaped by online expectations. What message do you hope audiences take away about social media addiction, digital exploitation, and the pressure to construct a perfect life online?
The primary function of my art is to invite the viewer to question what is real within the virtual world and to turn their attention back to the physical world-to the people beside us, and to the experiences we have as living, finite beings. I first invite people to the cinema-making it clear that what they are seeing is fiction-in order to then invite them into real life, which, in turn, can also be illusory. It is within the friction between these two realms that harmony emerges.
4. Addressing Human Trafficking, Immigration, and Homelessness Through Cinema
The film examines difficult subjects, including human trafficking, immigration, mental health, and homelessness. How did you approach portraying these sensitive issues responsibly while maintaining an engaging cinematic narrative?
In my work as a human rights educator, these topics were often very difficult to discuss, as people are naturally trapped within their own prejudices or positions of privilege-factors that distance them from reality. My background in artistic study has helped me convey this sensitivity in a way that also respects the viewer’s emotions. That is why I believe I have found a way to present something beautiful and sweet, you need a touch of sweetness, even when facing the bitter.
5. Sweet Suite California at the 2026 Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival
Your film is scheduled to make its world premiere at the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival (LABRIFF) on November 3, 2026, and is competing for Best International Short Film. What does this milestone mean to you as an independent Brazilian filmmaker, and what impact do you hope the premiere will have on the film’s international journey?
The film was written and shot in Los Angeles, with the collaboration of almost everyone who worked for free on it. I first discovered this festival right around the time I was writing the film, and I was immediately captivated by its selection. The best Brazilian movies were being played, so being among them now I know it’s big because it was once before a deep desire of my heart. It’s also a film created in the dream city of cinema by a Brazilian woman with zero budget-brings full circle a project that was, for all intents and purposes, impossible to conceive in the way it was. Premiering at this festival still feels like a dream. Now, whenever someone says something like this is impossible, I can answer that it is, in fact, possible: we can create anarchic art within the capitalist system-using the very tools of that system. So there are layers that make me even more emotional about this premiere.
6. The Challenges of Independent Filmmaking in Hollywood
Producing a low-budget film in Los Angeles with an international cast is an ambitious undertaking. What were the biggest creative, financial, and production challenges you encountered, and what advice would you offer emerging filmmakers working without major studio backing?
When things work out, it’s easy-and thrilling-to look back and see everything I’ve overcome; but in the thick of the process, there are so many challenges that the question I asked myself most often was: why? Yet life is never about the arrival; it’s about the process. Because reaching a destination is so fleeting, there must be a greater reason beyond simply achieving a goal. I believe that everything I’ve accomplished in the arts has only been possible because I’ve come to understand that we are only truly well when we are surrounded by the people we enjoy being with-and the act of doing things must be enjoyable.
7. Women in Film: Representation and Creative Leadership
As a woman directing, producing, and starring in your own projects, how do you view the evolving role of female filmmakers in the global entertainment industry? What barriers still exist for independent women filmmakers seeking recognition and distribution?
There are so many challenges to expressing myself artistically that, most of the time, it’s a matter of building the self-esteem needed to believe that doing something is actually possible. I focus more on finding a door left ajar-one I can push open-rather than analyzing the ones that are firmly shut. And I have encountered so many people who help me! It is only through the strength of the women and men around me that I’ve managed to finish what I started. The path I chose may be more difficult, but it was the only one I was able to walk. My advice to everyone is this: study as much as you can, give in every action your absolute best, and have patience. You also have to enjoy what you’re doing, because the present moment is what truly matters. I’m still working on everything, this premiere is just another beginning. Distribution is the hardest part, let’s find out how it will work.
8. From The Enchanted Mission, Virtuality and Memorarium to Sweet Suite California
Your work, including The Enchanted Mission (2022), Virtuality (2024), Memorarium (as the main actress), and Sweet Suite California, explores aspects of human behavior and contemporary society. How has your artistic vision evolved across these projects, and why are technology’s psychological and social consequences becoming such central themes in your storytelling?
I have been exposed to philosophy and psychology since childhood, thanks to the books my parents owned. My mother forbade me from watching television when I was a child, so warding off the boredom of the real world by observing the people around me-and letting my thoughts flow-became a lifelong habit. For me, using social media has always been problematic; initially, because my work as a public defender in Bahia left little room for distraction, and later, due to a health issue (tendonitis). In truth, I find the real world far more captivating. This allows me to simultaneously act as an investigator and as an object of investigation. And I usually feel very lonely, while all around me I see people immersed in their cell phones. Hypnotized, they forget that these are mechanisms of control. That is why I express this anguish through art, in the hope of encouraging more people to reflect on these social addictions.
9. International Cinema and the Power of Multicultural Storytelling
Sweet Suite California features performers from Brazil, Russia, the United States, Turkey, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic. How did this multicultural collaboration shape the film’s authenticity, and why is international representation important in contemporary American cinema?
We are all immigrants in this world. Even our own bodies do not truly belong to us; Death will claim them whenever it chooses. The Americas were inhabited by other peoples long before European colonization; the world is full of people everywhere that was born also everywhere. While the film may have been shot in Los Angeles, its story could take place in any big city on Earth. The same applies to the actors’ nationalities-the main character (Courtney), for instance, she could be from any country. I hope this film serves as an invitation for us to reflect on this as well.
10. The Future of Marta Torres: Film Festivals, Distribution, and What’s Next
Following your work at the Chelsea Film Festival and the upcoming Los Angeles premiere of Sweet Suite California, what are your next ambitions as an actress and filmmaker? Are you exploring feature-length films, international distribution, streaming platforms, or new projects addressing the relationship between technology and society?
Yes, thanks for asking. My next movie is a feature and it’s about how AI already impacted human interactions. I’m now working on finding partners and sponsors, I want to make this movie as soon as possible. If someone is interested on contributing, please contact me. I also hope for invitations to work in productions directed and produced by someone else. Now it’s the actress speaking: I’m available for deep characters. Let’s play! I try to live as Heraclitus quoted: “If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it, for it is trackless and unexplored.” So “unexpected” movies, I’m here!
Details
Sweet Suite California – World premiere at LABRFF (Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival)
When: Tuesday, November 3, 2026, 12:00 p.m.
Where: The Culver Theater, Los Angeles
Nominated: Best International Short
Directed and produced by Marta Torres (@martadeoliveiratorres)
Cast: Marta Torres (@martadeoliveiratorres), Colby Kennedy (@instacolby12), Areg Barsegian (@aregbarsegian), Johanny Paulino (@johannypaulino), Oceana Christopher (@oceanachristopher), Billy Minogue, Anastasiya Varanko (@ana_varanko), Roberto Gavarrete (@ch3k_one)
Soundtrack: @linde_oliveira
