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Meet the Filmmaker: Maureen Lee Maloney, “Girl Aspiring Episode 5: Elephant Keeper, Maura Davis”

Q: Why did you become a filmmaker?
MM: I originally became a filmmaker to educate people about science, but eventually realized that human stories are more important and more impactful. Now my focus is on educating through the telling of human stories, and really connecting people across cultural and geographic barriers.

Q: What are we going to see at EFPalooza? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?
MM: Girl Aspiring is a web series featuring women in a variety of careers. Episode 5 will be shown at EFPalooza, and it is about Maura Davis, the Assistant Curator of Elephants at the Denver Zoo, and the team of women who take care of the elephants. Maura shares how she came to work with elephants, and what it takes to become an Elephant Keeper.

Q: What else are you working on?
MM: I am currently producing and directing a feature-length documentary called Voice of Vanilla about women vanilla farmers in Madagascar, and the risks they take to bring us our favorite spice.

Q: Tell us one weird thing about you and/or your movies?
MM: I stumbled into my first few jobs by happy accident. For instance, I was B camera for a documentary about a group of Mayan elders leading a sacred pilgrimage through the Lacandon rainforest in Chiapas, Mexico. I just happened to have contacted a filmmaker living in San Cristobal through Couchsurfing.com to see if I could crash on her couch. She asked me if I was available to work on the film, hiking through the rainforest for 3 weeks. Obviously I said yes.

Q: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
MM: MaureenLeeMaloney.com

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about EFPalooza or The Emerging Filmmakers Project?
MM: EFP is a really special program, and I am always honored to be part of it.

Girl Aspiring Episode 5: Elephant Keeper, Maura Davis will screen Saturday, March 21st at 3:00 p.m. at The Bug Theatre as part of the “A Decade of Colorado Independent Women of Film” block during the 2020 EFPalooza Film Festival.

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Meet the Filmmaker: Maureen Lee Maloney, “Girl Aspiring”

Q: Why did you become a filmmaker?
MM: I was finishing a graduate degree in biology, and my mentors were really pushing the need for more science communicators, when I met a young woman who was making a documentary. I had been interested in photography for a long time, and the idea of making documentaries really appealed to me. Soon after I took a filmmaking bootcamp class and totally fell in love with it, bought a camera, and started traveling the world making short films.

Q: What are we going to see at EFPalooza? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?
MM: Girl Aspiring is a web series featuring women in a variety of careers. Episode 1 will be shown at EFPalooza, and it is about a local cider maker. Girl Aspiring can be viewed on Youtube, and I plan to feature lots of cool women all around the world.

Q: What else are you working on?
MM: I am currently finishing a pilot I produced and directed for an unscripted show titled Hidden Tigers, as well as developing a feature-length documentary.

Q: Tell us one weird thing about you and/or your movies?
MM: I’ve had over 20 different kinds of jobs in my life.

Q: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
MM: MaureenLeeMaloney.com

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about EFPalooza or The Emerging Filmmakers Project?
MM: It’s so great having a place to show my work, and see other local artists.

Girl Aspiring will screen Thursday, February 21st at 8:00 p.m. at The Bug Theatre as part of the Emerging Filmmakers Project block during the 2019 EFPalooza Film Festival.

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Meet the Filmmaker: Maureen Maloney, “Transitions”

Transitions | www.maureenleemaloney.com

Q: Why did you become a filmmaker?
MM: I was doing research on the effects endocrine disrupting chemicals on animals, a very poorly understood yet critical topic, and several of my mentors were emphasizing the importance of science communication. I met a woman very similar to myself who was working on a documentary about food justice, and it hit me that I could be combining my love of science and film to educate people. I later became a Peace Corps Volunteer, which gave my work more a focus on people and culture.

Q: What are we going to see at Mile Hi Mocs & Docs? Has it screened elsewhere and what are your plans for it?
MM: Transitions is a short documentary about the bureaucratic process of going through transition. Miriam Suzanne is a trans-activist who has been very open on social media about this process. When I read about what she was going through, I realized this was a way more people could understand and identify with people going through transition. It’s a subject that is usually sensationalized, which makes many people feel very distanced from it.

Transitions has screened at the Taos Pride Film Festival, the Watsonville Film Festival, and the Feminist Border Arts Festival.

Q: Who would enjoy attending the festival? Is it just for the filmmaking community, or is there a reason why non-filmmakers should attend?
MM: Our society is beginning to understand the value of hearing different viewpoints, and film festivals like this one make it easy and fun to learn and experience the world from a variety of people.

Q: What else are you working on?
MM: I’m working on a documentary about overcoming obstacles to live a more full life.

Q: Where can people go to find out more about you and your work?
MM: maureenleemaloney.com

Q: Is there anything you’d like to say about Mile Hi Mocs & Docs and The Emerging Filmmakers Project?
MM: It is so great that we have an organization like the EFP here in Denver to nurture filmmakers, and I’m honored to be part of Mile Hi Mocs & Docs.

Transitions will screen December 3rd at 8:00pm during the 2017 Mile Hi Mocs & Docs Film Festival at The Bug Theatre.