Pia Marais was born in South Africa in 1971. She studied sculpture and photography at art academies in London, Amsterdam, and Düsseldorf. After the short films Tricky People (1999) and Seventeen (2002), her feature debut, The Unpolished, won the Tiger Award at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2007 and the German Film Critics Association’s Best Debut Award. At Ellen’s Age screened in Competition in Locarno in 2010, and in more than 30 festivals, including Toronto. Layla Fourie was set in her home country, South Africa, and premiered in Competition at the 2013 Berlinale, receiving a Special Jury Mention. In 2018, she made her first documentary Cari Compagni for Arte. In 2024 Pia returned in Locarno International Competition with Transamazonia, her fourth feature film. She is President of the Feature Film Competition Jury of FESCAAAL 2025.