Maroa

Solveig Hoogesteijn, born August 3, 1946 in Sweden, is a noted Venezuelan motion picture writer, producer and director.

She wrote, produced and directed Santera (1994); Macu, la Mujer del Policía (1987) (Macu, the Policeman’s Woman); Alemania Puede Ser Muy Bella, a Veces (1982) (Germany can be very beautiful, sometimes); Manoa – Flucht aus der Zeit (1980). The latter film was a made-for-TV movie.)

Hoogesteijn co-wrote, produced, and directed El Mar del tiempo perdido (The Sea of Lost Time, 1981) and Manoa (1980). She also co-wrote, directed, and served as executive producer on the film Maroa (2006), which was Venezuela’s Official Selection for the 79th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007.

Hoogesteijn is the second daughter of a Dutch father and a German mother who migrated in Venezuela in 1947. For more than 30 years, her father directed a radio program in Caracas, broadcast in German language, called La Hora Alemana (The German Hour) which was amusing because his German had a noticeable Dutch accent.

She studied High School at the Humboldt German School in Caracas. She then went abroad to study filmmaking between 1971 and 1976 in the University of Television and Film Munich. Later, she followed Art and Literature studies in Venezuela’s Central University in Caracas. Hoogesteijn married the talented Venezuelan jazz saxophonist, composer and actor Victor Cuica, who has shared credits in several of her films, in charge of their soundtracks and, in some cases, acting in main roles. They have one son. Hoogesteijn is currently the manager of a cultural film and theater facility in Caracas (since 2002). —Wikipedia