Maaria Sayed

Maaria Sayed was born in 1989. She is a producer and director. She completed her studies in Literature at St. Xavier's College and was a remarkable student at Mumbai University. After that, she moved to London and pursued her master’s degree in Filmmaking at the London Film School. After her master's, she worked as a writer/producer for networks such as National Geographic, Discovery Channel, and Fox. For her multifaceted interests, which included painting and theater, she recognized cinema as her ideal platform. Despite living in cities like Singapore, London, and Milan, she maintained a deep connection with narratives centered on the Indian context. Her participation in the film industry included working in a variety of capacities on over 15 short films and working in the production of television content in India.

During this time, she resolved to make her films. Aabida, Maaria’s debut short film, achieved international popularity with screenings at nearly twenty film festivals and the honor of winning four Best Film awards. She later went to Mumbai, where she founded Draw4Films, her own production company, to further explore the world of film screenings. Maaria’s skills were recognized in 2016 when she was chosen as one of the top 24 Asian filmmakers to enroll in the prestigious Asian Film Academy. During this program, she co-directed the short film Cichlid, which was screened at the famous Busan International Film Festival. Maaria’s recently released short film, Chudala, gained attention at eight international film festivals, broadening her success. She is also working on the post-production of her major documentary, Waiguoren.