Maia Horniak

Maia was born in Paris to Czechoslovakian parents who later migrated to Australia. She performed in film and theatre as a child and was the youngest successful applicant to study at FAMU, the National Film School in Prague. Maia gained film industry experience by working on Universal and Miramax Productions in Prague and LA and has studied film making internationally. After FAMU, she studied at the Royal Art Academy in Copenhagen, and then completed a Masters in Film Directing at the Australian Film Television and Radio School; where she was awarded the 2006 Gilbert and Tobin Award for the ‘most significant and promising body of work’.

Maia has completed three degrees, directed over ten short films, a TV series pilot, several TV commercials and been the recipient of an AFC internship grant. Her short films and documentaries have had international success, screening at over twenty esteemed international film festivals including Milan, Sydney, Bermuda, Brooklyn, Palm Springs, Brussels, Edmonton and recently her film ‘Loveproof’ was invited to Cannes for 2007. Maia’s commercial work was also one of four finalists in the whole Asia Pacific region to be nominated for the 2007 Kodak AWARD Young Director Award.