Maya Bastian

Background

About Maya Bastian

Maya Bastian is an award winning filmmaker and artist with roots in conflict journalism. Her work has been shown worldwide and been supported by the Canadian Film Centre, Netflix, HBO, CBC and the UN IOM. Her film TIGRESS, produced by BLACKOUT MEDIA and India’s JAR PICTURES was nominated for a CEC AWARD and attended CANNES COURT METRAGE 2021. Her feature horror in development 'The Devil's Tears' is being produced by FAE PICTURES (In Flames, Cannes Director's Fortnight). She is an alumni of TIFF Series Accelerator, 1497 Features Lab and Breaking Through the Lens. She is currently developing a 1/2 hour comedy series with 90th Parallel ‘HOW TO BE BROWN’ as well as awaiting the Dec 2024 release of a paranormal mystery series set in Southeast Asia that she co-wrote and directed with REFLECTOR ENTERTAINMENT and BANDAI NAMCO. Her work frequently explores the trauma related to displacement and migration. Her video installations and mixed-media work has shown at Edinburgh Fringe, the Colombo Art Biennale, Gallery 46 Whitechapel, Shoshana Wayne LA, Artworks Downtown SF and more. She is the recent recipient of the prestigious Chalmer's Fellowship for mid-career artists. For the past 15 years, she has engaged with communities around the world, specifically in conflict/post-conflict zones. She has taught filmmaking and storytelling to youth in Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Iraq and Palestine with the aid of organizations such as American Aid, British Council, the United Nations, and Internews. She is the founder of the X-Wave Mentorship series for BIPOC creators at Trinity Square Video and the producer of The Big Pitch @ TIFF in partnership with Telefilm and the Canada Media Fund, which has launched the careers of many filmmakers of colour. You can see her work and style at