Sundance Advisor
Maria Judice
San Francisco, California, United States | Writer/Director/Producer
Maria Judice is an artist, cultural organizer, and visual storyteller in cinema with an M.F.A. from CalArts. Wired magazine hailed her as a "filmmaker provocateur," while her award-winning short film Palm Trees Down 3rd St. (2008) was described by Film Threat as "a masterpiece" and received the Adrienne Shelly Award. Her play A Metaphor in 3 Acts was produced and staged by the Obsidian Theater Festival in 2020, and her feature Elephant (2022) premiered at the Ann Arbor Film Festival and won the Departure Audience Award at Indie Memphis. Her directorial work includes Palm Trees Down 3rd St. (2008), Geraniums (2009), moonless (2012), spaced (2014), and Elephant (2022). In 2021, she produced Neptune Frost (Cannes 2021), directed by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman. Maria opened The BlackMaria Microcinema in the Fall of 2024, a venue dedicated to radical cinema and education. Based on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land in San Francisco where she continues to kick around the fog. More
M is an artist, cultural organizer, and visual storyteller in cinema with an MFA from CalArts. Wired magazine called M a "filmmaker provocateur." Palm Trees Down 3rd St. won the Adrienne Shelly Award, and it was called "a masterpiece" by Film Threat. Obsidian Theater Festival produced and staged A Metaphor in 3 Acts in 2020. Elephant received the Departure Audience Award at Indie Memphis in 2022.
Directorial work includes short films Palm Trees Down 3rd St. (2008), Geraniums (2009), Moonless (2012), spaced (2014), and the feature film Elephant (2022), which premiered at the Ann Arbor Film Festival.
In 2021, M produced Neptune Frost (Cannes 2021), directed by Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman. She launches the Black Maria Microcinema in the Fall of 2024. The microcinema is a dedicated screening and educational space for radical works.
Indigo Impact was founded in 2016 to produce impactful left-of-center documentaries, fiction narratives, art projects, and community campaigns. As a total cultural worker and hood educator, she sits on the board of School of the Alternative, offering affordable non-hierarchical arts education. Classes on cinema studies are taught in open virtual and public spaces to advance discussions on the future of Black cinema. Curricula include SCREENWRITING ROOTED IN DECOLONIZATION AND ABSTRACT THINKING, THE PRINCIPLES of GOOD STORY, BLACK FILM as PROTEST, and the 101 ESSENTIAL BLACK FILMS.
M can be found on unceded Ramaytush land of the Yelamu people, named San Francisco by settlers, kicking around the fog.