Artist

M is a visual storyteller working as a writer/director, producer, industry equity and equality advocate, and educator for 25+ years. Born in San Francisco, an everyday Black experience is made visible in her work. Over the past five years, she has developed the California Black Aesthetic. CBA is about preserving, highlighting, connecting, and contextualizing all aspects of Black life in the second largest state in the West. 
 
Memories and community become the fabric of storytelling. Her films and writing combine a fictional and documentary approach. Wired magazine called M a "filmmaker provocateur." PALM TREES DOWN 3rd ST. won the Adrienne Shelly Award and was called "a masterpiece" by Film Threat. The award-winning sci-fi MOONLESS was reviewed by Stigmart/Videofocus13. Obsidian Theater Festival produced and staged her play A METAPHOR IN 3 ACTS.
 
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 School of the Alternative board, offering affordable non-hierarchical high arts education for all. Other 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.

 

In 2021, M produced Neptune Frost, the directorial debut of Saul Williams co-directed by Anisia Uzeyman, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Fortnight Section. Her directorial debut, ELEPHANT premiered at Ann Arbor Film Festival in 2022. She can be found on Yelamu land named by settlers as San Francisco, kicking around the fog.

Her directorial debut, ELEPHANT premiered at Ann Arbor Film Festival in 2022. She can be found on Yelamu land named by settlers as San Francisco, kicking around the fog.

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m@mariaaj.com

@mariaajudice