I was born in Caracas, Venezuela. My first encounter with art was on the stage — a small theater school that led me to perform at the National Theater, and later to being cast in an Italian film. That was the moment cinema entered my life and never left.

I studied classical ballet back home and later continued my training in the United States, where I became a professional dancer. Dance taught me everything about movement, rhythm, and how to let music shape the body. Those lessons became the foundation of how I create images today — moving pictures full of motion, breath, and emotion.

I am a self-taught filmmaker. I learned by doing. My wife, Maria, and I made our first feature film, Calico, traveling the world and meeting people who became part of the film’s heartbeat. I didn’t become a filmmaker because someone gave me permission. I became one by making films.

The stories I tell are daring — sometimes painful, sometimes uncomfortable — but they are the stories I feel I must tell. I don’t run from pain; I use it. I capture it. As a Venezuelan filmmaker, I take audiences through movement to explore what it means to be human. To create films where you can cry, dance, and laugh all in the same breath.

My name is Ibrahim Perez, and I make dancing pictures.