Maria Giese, a pioneering figure in the entertainment industry, embarked on a crusade in 2015 after four years of activism with the Directors Guild of America. Her groundbreaking efforts led to a federal investigation into the lack of representation for women directors in Hollywood, earning her the title of "a veritable crusade" from Manohla Dargis of The New York Times.
Giese's work has been the subject of three recent books and two award-winning feature documentaries, including This Changes Everything (2019) and Half The Picture (2018). Her thought-provoking TEDx talk, "The Battle For Female Voices in Entertainment Media," and her upcoming book, Troublemaker, delve into her journey of getting the ACLU and EEOC to investigate the issue, with far-reaching implications that resonate globally.
As a multifaceted creative force, Giese is a subject in and co-produced the 2022 feature documentary Brainwashed: Sex and Power, the Visual Language of Cinema, and is attached to direct a feature documentary, Women On Wall Street, as well as a narrative feature film, Oliver Outloud, a powerful story about a painter with Tourette's Syndrome.
Prior to her recent projects, Giese wrote and directed the 1996 feature film When Saturday Comes, starring Sean Bean and Pete Postlethwaite, and the 2007 award-winning digital feature film Hunger, based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winner Knut Hamsun. Her impressive repertoire also includes two Golden Cine Eagle-winning short films and three screenplays that have been produced into feature films, including North Star, directed by Nils Gaup and starring James Caan, Christophe Lambert, and Catherine McCormack.
As a member of the Directors Guild of America, Giese holds a Bachelor's degree from Wellesley College and a Master's degree from UCLA's Graduate School of Theatre, Film and Television. Her achievements have been recognized with the prestigious Equity Award from Stanford University in 2016, and her articles have been published in prominent publications such as Ms. Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Elle, IndieWIRE, and Film Inquiry.
Giese has made numerous television appearances, including CNN Global, BBC International, ABC Live, Sky TV UK Live, Bloomberg TV, and NPR, and has been featured in various notable publications internationally, including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Forbes, Fortune, Cosmopolitan, LA Weekly, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, and The Guardian.
