Mónica Santana Baptista was born in Lisbon in 1979. She frequented a first degree in Communication Sciences in the Cinema and Audiovisuals variant in the Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas na Universidade Nova de Lisboa, which she concluded in 2001.  In Lisbon’s Cinema School she obtained the bachelor in Arts, in the montage department, in 2004 and a masters degree in Directing in 2005. She started working in cinema in various departments (directing, production and montage) while still studying, and collaborated, as a journalist, with various publications. In 2009 she taught Script and Storyboard in Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias. Since 2010 she teaches Directing, Script and Montage in the Design and Art School in Caldas da Rainha and, since 2014, Script in Lisbon’s Cinema School. An author of tales that await publisher, she developed an extensive work as an scriptwriter while writing THIS SIDE OF RESSURECTION by Joaquim Sapinho, WHAT’S NEW ABOUT LOVE? and the most recent feature film by Vítor Gonçalves, THE INVISIBLE LIFE. She was elected by Notícias Mazine of Diário e Notícias and by Jornal de Notícias as one of the biggest hopes for Portuguese cinema. In 2011 she directed her first feature film WHAT’S NEW ABOUT LOVE? alongside five other directors and is right now working on THE ATTIC OF AMENDOEIRA a feature documentary about the Mouraria in Lisbon.