Profiles: Adriana Bernal Martínez | Proimágenes Colombia

A film and television director and cinematographer with more than 25 years of experience in the field, she was the first female director of photography in Colombia. After arriving in the country in 1998, she paved the way for women working today in this area. She has shot more than twenty short films and six feature films with directors such as Germán Piffano, José Luis Arzuaga, María Camila Lizarazo, Korean Daniel Byung, French Marina de Van, Indo-French Partho Sen Gupta, and Italian Sandro Bozzolo.
 
Adriana has a degree in Social Communication with an emphasis in Audiovisual Educational Communication from Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá (1990) and a Diploma in Imagemaking (Direction of Photography and Framing) from the Institut de Formation pour les Métiers de l'Image et du Son (FEMIS) in France (1997). She was part of the group of filmmakers who helped implement the Film Law under the direction of Felipe Aljure. She also presided over the Association of Directors of Cinematographic Photography of Colombia (ADFC) between 2017 and 2019.
 
She has combined her work in both filmmaking and advertising. For over 18 years, she has directed and shot television commercials as well as political and institutional advertisement pieces and video clips, among others. She has worked with production companies such as RCN Comerciales, Fundación Nativo, RSA Producciones, Spiral Films and others; for agencies such as Sancho DDBO and Ogilvi; for clients such as WWF Foundation, El Espectador, UN Women, DIAN, Clorox de Colombia, RCN Radio, and Procuraduría General de la Nación, to mention a few.

Adriana was photography director at CityTV channel from 1998 to 2000 in programs such as Women online, Radio City, DXT, Electric Circus, Total City (winner of the India Catalina Award for Best New Format Show), and the channel's publicity. She did the same job for the reality show Royal Bogotá (2002-2004), the series Pambelé (2015) of 11:11 Producciones for RCN Televisión, the series Fabiana and the knowledge key (2015) for Canal Capital, The Law of the Heart (first two seasons, 2016 and 2018) for Canal RCN. She also worked as the photography director and camera operator in the series #EmiFan(2019) for Canal 13.
 
Her filmography includes credits as a camera assistant for the fiction short films Parlez-moi d'Amour(1996) by Frederique Ribis, CODI (1997) by Jean-Francois Fontaine, and the feature film Le Bossu (En Gardia!) (1997) by Philippe De Brocca. She was also the camerawoman for Le Froid (1995) and Orson(1998) by Daniel Byung and Bien Sous Tous Rapports (1996) by Marina Devan. Adriana directed the medium-length documentary La Manivelle (1991) and the short fiction film Un Fantöme en Chair et en Os (1994). She was the director of photography for the fiction short films The Flea Market (1995) by Anne Sophie Birot, Le Cochon (1996) by Partho Sen Gupta —Special Mention for Best Image at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival—, The Master (2000) by Ramiro Meneses, and the feature film Trajet Discontnu (1998) by Partho Sen Gupta.

She was the photography director and camera operator for the short films Watch what Happens (1995) by Camille Caporal, Le Fer á Repasser (1996) by Jeanne Berthoud, Eternal Spring (2000) by Carlos López, Bed Number Five (2000) by José Luis Arzuaga, Head of the Family (2003) by Tomás Corredor, and Urgent looks (2008) by Alana Farrah Roa. She also worked in the music videos I'll wait by Karol Marquez (2003), directed by Diego Montoya and David Muñoz; and A memory that kills (2005) by Binomio de Oro, directed by Pablo Sarmiento and Tomás Corredor. Adriana was also part of the feature films Tule-Kuna, we sing so as not to die  (2006) and Hell and Paradise (2014) by Germán Piffano, The accordion angel (2008) by María Camila Lizarazo, Women on the Front Line (2008) for BBC London and Negotiation (2018), both by Margarita Martínez.
 
In 2008, Adriana Bernal created La Olimpo, a production company with which she initially worked on commercials with agencies such as Sancho DDBO, Euro, Rep, and Ostia for clients such as Casa Luker, Bayer, Tigo, Harpic, Vanish, and Mexana. From 2012 to 2015, she directed 150 pieces in the citizen culture campaign Seeing for Bogota for the City Inspectorate. Since 2017, she has produced and co-produced the documentary Public Libraries, Spaces for Peace by Cinefilia for National Public Libraries, the feature films Kintsugi by José Luis Arzuaga, Zenufana by Spanish director Jesús Solera, the series Without the promised land —written by her— and Nijole (2022) by Sandro Bozzolo.

Another noteworthy facet of her professional career is teaching. She worked as a professor of Cinematographic Appreciation (2002 - 2020) and Video Narrative (2009 - 2020) at the Universidad de Los Andes. In 2013, she and Alfonso Parra founded the Digital Cinematography Center (CCD), an itinerant educational space to provide specialized training services in cinematography direction to multiple higher education centers in the country as well as training in television channels, production companies, and gear rental services. In 2019, she was a head professor at the Conservatory of Cinematography at ENACC and, in 2020, a guest professor at Maestros de la Luz and in making the short film Dust at EICTV in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba.