Gardenberg is a Brazilian director and screenwriter. She spent her childhood in Săo Paulo and in the mid-1970s moved to Rio de Janeiro where she studied economics. In the late 1980s she studied film at the university in New York. Her graduation film is the short film Day 67 (1989). The first film she made in Brasil was the short film Diário Noturno (1993). In 1955 she made her first feature film Jenipapo. Afterwards she made Benjamin (2003) and Ó Paí, Ó (2007). She also directed Caetano Veloso’s videos and concerts (Un Caballero de Fina Estampa, 1996 and Prenda Minha, 1999). In 2002, she directed the successful theatre performance Os Sete Afluentes do Rio Ota.