Maya albanese

COMEDY | FEMALE EMPOWERMENT | KIDS

Maya Albanese is an international, award-winning writer-director known for twisted storytelling that jumpstarts social dialogue.

She has directed and shot films and commercials on four continents in English, French and Spanish, and her original screenplays have placed in Austin, BlueCat, Screencraft and L.A. Screenplay Awards.

In 2023, her horror fantasy short, The Ringmaster, premiered at Paris International Film Festival where she won the BEST DIRECTOR Award. At genre festival, FilmQuest, she won the DIRECTOR’S PRIZE for Artistic Vision & Execution, and her film was nominated for 5 awards, including Best Fantasy Short, Best Supporting Actor for Sam Witwer’s performance as The Ringmaster, and "The Minerva Award" for directors who embody the advancement & empowerment of the female filmmaker in genre cinema today.

In 2021, Maya won the EMERGING DIRECTOR AWARD at LA Diversity Film Festival and was nominated for Best Director.  Her commercial “Give the Gift of Joy” won an Emmy for Best Commercial, and another, “Giveaway,” won Gold Award at the American Advertising Awards.

In 2020, Maya wrote and directed the dark fantasy comedy, FREEZE, starring Chris Parnell, Adrian Grenier, Nora Zehetner, Kel Mitchell and Mindy Sterling, which took home BEST SHORT and BEST ACTRESS at its premiere at SeriesFest and went on to play 45 festivals worldwide. In 2021, it was one of few shorts distributed by Oscilloscope for sales to HBO, ARGO and other European outlets.

In 2018, the Directors Guild of America awarded Maya the inaugural Commercial Directors Diversity Program Fellowship. Her commercial, “History”, was Best New Work of 2018 by Shoot Mag. She also received their Badge of Honor for Rising Female Filmmaker.