When it comes to lasting storytelling, all it takes is the skill, creativity, and craft to make commercial campaigns, films, and variety shows leave an impression on its audience. Storytelling is Filipino’s forte, and there is no doubt that this one Filipina director has remarkable skill when it comes to directing.
Meet Marie Jamora, a Filipina director and writer born and raised in Manila, Philippines. She graduated from Columbia University with an MFA in Film.
She began to explore the path of directing music videos during the golden age of the Philippine rock scene, wherein she has directed over 50 music videos, mainly from OPM bands like Itchyworms, Spongecola, Silent Sanctuary, and Filipino musician Bamboo.
After graduating from Columbia University, she has decided to put her natural talent of directing commercial campaigns for Coca-cola, San Miguel Beer, Colgate, and Maybelline.
In 2007, Jamora also became a part of the longest-running noontime show in the country, Eat Bulaga, wherein she served as a director and writer for their various episodes.
She also served as the showrunner and director for the first season of Project Runway Philippines, the Philippine adaptation of Project Runway, an American reality television show. The show aired in 2008 and aimed to find the next Filipino fashion designer.
With her natural talent and courage on her sleeve, she paved her way to success in directing as she immigrated to Los Angeles in 2013.
Her 2012 feature film, What Isn’t There (Ang Nawawala), a cult classic coming of age Filipino film, premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival. Her 2017 short film, Flip the Record, was screened at over thirty festivals worldwide, won the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Short at Urbanworld, and was shortlisted for the 90th Academy Awards.
Her success in directing continued as she became the first Filipino director to be accepted into AFI’s Directing Workshop for women. It led her to write and direct Harana, a 2020 short film about a cover band singer in a Las Vegas casino-hotel lounge who is longing for her daughter. The short film won accolades such as the Grand Jury Prize for U.S Narrative Short in the Sarasota Film Festival. Francheska Farr, the short film’s main character, also won Best Dramatic Actress in the Micheaux Film Festival.
In 2021, she was named one of the “Five Visionary Asian-American Female Filmmakers” in Korea Magazine’s ‘New Hollywood’ Issue. In the same year, she is proudly one of the first few Filipinos who has joined the Director’s Guild of America.
She has worked in directing episodes in award-winning shows Queen Sugar on OWN, The Cleaning Lady on FOX Channel, and Good Sam on CBS. She also served as the executive producer and director of Family Style, an Asia food and pop culture that aired on HBO Max.
Aside from her directing stints, she also has the desire to amplify Filipino stories and serve as a champion of Philippine cinema in another country. This is why Jamora and her husband also founded Cinema Sala in 2016. Their initial aim was to invite filmmakers to their living room to showcase short works focusing on Filipino stories.
Since its founding, Cinema Sala has expanded to provide feature-length screenings, performances, and workshops that aim to exhibit works and talents, enrich Philippine culture, and unite Filipino creatives worldwide. Cinema Sala has successfully established partnerships and gained support from Visual Communications, Sundance Institute, Cinereach, California Arts Council, and Array Giants.
With a lot of experience in the film industry, she is now Directing Faculty at the American Film Institute and still making her way to make the Filipino community proud and showcase Filipino pride and talent in the art of storytelling and craft of filmmaking.
Source: https://www.mariejamora.com/
