Spotlight: Maria Mealla

Feb 14, 2019

One of the reasons our team loves to create cinematic pieces is that many of us are filmmakers. Our newest team member at our San Francisco Bay Area-based video production company and creative agency is Maria Mealla. Maria is Bolivian filmmaker who is about to premiere her second feature film, Bring me an Avocado at the Cinequest Film Festival on Friday, March 8th at 7:30 pm in the Hammer Theater in San Jose (with three subsequent screenings).

Maria began her filmmaking career in 2010. She is an active member of Scary Cow, a Bay Area film incubator that allows filmmakers to share their skills to complete passion projects through work-trade, and the chapter leader of the SF Cinefemme Director’s Collective, a nonprofit and community that supports female filmmakers nationwide. Maria began writing the film in 2014 and fundraising/pre-production in 2017. The film was funded primarily by crowdfunding on Seed & Spark during the inaugural Hometown Heros Rally and was awarded a grant by the Duplass Brothers as one of the five finalists.

The film centers around the family of Robin and George, who are parents to two vivacious little girls. When a violent encounter leaves Robin in a coma, her family ventures to maintain normalcy for their children while managing their own grief. Maria said this about the film: “As individuals we’re quick to assert our morality in hypothetical situations; we’re quick to judge, firm in our beliefs that we would make the right choice in another’s place. I catch myself doing it all the time, and feel amused by it. Tragedy doesn’t reflect our moral selves. Whether an unexpected death, disease, a disabling accident, tragedy is a surprise that derails our expectations of a fulfilling life. What happens next is unpredictable. Through the characters in Bring me an Avocado, I want to explore the awakening of fear, rage, sorrow, desperation, lust… emotions that take us a lifetime to restrain.”

We’re super proud of Maria and can’t wait to see the film at the premiere! For more info, check out the website of the film and the Cinequest schedule.

– Crescent Diamond, Executive Producer, Corduroy Media