Maia Horniak
Film Director, Editor, Dramaturg
Maia is FirstCut's only non-music/sound member and is part of the Studio’s Production Arm. As an award winning Director with multiple capabilities, she provides the Studio with directing and editing expertise. Maia was born in Paris to Czechoslovakian artists who later migrated to Australia. She was accepted into the prestigious FAMU, the National Film School in Prague and later worked on Universal and Miramax Productions such as Brothers Grimm by Terry Gilliam and Van Helsing in Prague and LA. She returned to Australia when she was accepted into the Masters in Film Directing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS), where she first collaborated with Basil Hogios, Biddy Connor and Danielle Wiessner.
Maia has directed over ten award winning short films, a TV series pilot, TV commercials, music videos and stage plays. Her work has had international success, awarded at over thirty esteemed international film festivals including Milan, Sydney, Bermuda, Brooklyn, Palm Springs, Brussels, Toronto, Edmonton and most recently Cannes. In 2006 she won the prestigious Outstanding Film Maker Award at HATCHFEST USA after being chosen as 1 of 10 groundbreaking young filmmakers from around the world. Her commercial work was also one of four finalists in the Asia Pacific region to be nominated for the 2007 Kodak AWARD New Director Award. In 2010 Maia won the National Competition for the MTV Optus one80 project with the trailer she directed “The Sellers”. It will be on screens in 2011.
