MAJA ASTRID DIEDENHOFEN

BIO.​

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After leaving the dream of a career as a judge for human rights, Maja moved from a law degree in Paris to study film in London. A filmmaking course with NYFA made her realise the passion for cinema she'd always had was more than a passion, but was what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She has graduated from Queen Mary University of London with a BA in Film studies, and from Met Film school UK with an MA in Directing.

 

She started her first work experience in Italy's leading television channel "RAI" in the production department where she had excellent feedback and was recommended to apply for a nation wide competition to participate in a hand-on directing course led by Italian director Marco Bellocchio. She was one of twenty trainees accepted to the program which lasted four weeks and culminated with the production of a short film directed by Marco Bellocchio, screened at the Venice International Film Festival.

 

She soon moved to London to study film and got an internship at Secret Cinema immersive film experience production company in the East End. She would later co-found a company called Mile End Shorts with BAFTA award winner and 15 years experience at the BBC, Ravinder Basra. They would later go on to successfully organise a Film Festival sponsored by British Director Danny Boyle and promoted by Boris Johnson. 

 

Maja has also worked significantly with the London Urban Arts Academy, a non-profit company that brings opportunities to work in the arts to youth regardless of their background or experience. Her role was to produce promotional videos for the organisation, showing the youths' talents and progress their artistic careers thanks to the mentoring of established artists working within the company.

 

She has had internships as an Assistant Camera Operator with Italian production company UNICAFILM and and as an Editing trainee at Obiettivo Immagine in Rome.

 

After completing her graduation film at Met Film School she moved to Paris and worked as Assistant Director at the advertisement firm HLB, followed by an Assistant Producer position at the American music video production company HK Corp and later as an Assistant Producer for the documentary feature film company La Boite à  Songes where she was in charge of the international section of production. She then worked as an Assistant Producer at Roche Productions a high-end documentary feature film company producing cultural, historical and geopolitical films (Arte, France Télévisions, Canal +, National Geographic, Discovery Networks, BBC…). She co-founded a start-up dedicated to sourcing financing for independent films. She worked as a Junior Producer at Movie 4.0, a feature fiction film production company based in Rome. She currently works as a freelance Assistant Director or Producer's Assistant for feature fiction films. She is currently a Member of Writers Guild Italia as a Screenwriter, and is in the process of developing her first feature film.

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