Maria Finitzo

Short Biography

Maria FinitzoProducer | Director | WriterMaria Finitzo (www.mariafinitzo.com) is a two-time Peabody Award -winning social issue documentary filmmaker whose films are grounded in the creative movement known as cinema verite. Her independently produced films employ the hallmarks of this tradition - - hand-held camerawork capturing events as they happen, non scripted stories, spontaneous settings, and a story followed as it unfolds over time. Finitzo's films are novelistic in their structure, providing multiple points of connection for an audience. The narrative arc of her character's story evolves, and sometimes collides with other subjects from the film, creating a complex, nuanced story that serves as a vehicle to deepen our understanding of society through everyday human drama.A coming of age story that reveals the resilience of adolescent girls (5 Girls), a father determined to heal his daughter after a tragic accident using a promising but unproven science (Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita), a young man, alone in the world trying to find his way (With No Direction Home), a soccer coach committed to teaching his players -- Hispanic girls -- about winning in life (In the Game, ) and a community deep in the Amazon trying to navigate the rocky shoals of both hope and despair in a country in the midst of profound political transition, social change, and violent resistance, (Living Revolution), are all films that explore different realms of storytelling by investigating the important social issues of the day.Finitzo's films have won every major broadcast award, tackling a variety of subjects from the controversial science of stem cell research and the complex questions surrounding the command and control of nuclear weapons to the psychology of adolescent girls, each film demonstrating a depth and breadth of knowledge and expertise. Her documentaries are all supported by civic engagement strategies developed with local and national partners to foster understanding, change thinking, and build support for social change. Finitzo's work has been supported by both private and government grants and has been shown in community screenings, festivals, theaters and at universities throughout the world.She won her first George Foster Peabody Award in 1994 as a Producer for The New Explorers, a PBS series profiling ground-breaking scientific exploration. The series, produced by Kurtis Productions, was nominated for a national Emmy and went on to win numerous broadcast awards, including The Ohio State Award, The Chicago International Film Festival Gold Plaque and the CINE Golden Eagle Award.In 1993, she became an associate of Kartemquin Films (www.kartemquin.com), an award- winning documentary company with a 45-year history of producing work grounded in a respect for the subjects of their films, rock solid ethics, story-telling driven by a desire to find and capture emotional truth, and a deep commitment to telling stories that inspire social change. Of Kartemquin Films, film critic Roger Ebert wrote: These filmmakers have the ability to penetrate the souls of the people they depict. In 2007, to honor the body of work produced by all of the associates at Kartemquin Films, the company was awarded The International 2007 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.In 1998, Finitzo produced and directed her first vérité film, 5 Girls, in collaboration with Kartemquin Films. Following in the tradition established by Hoop Dreams, 5 Girls was a coming of age story that chronicled the lives of five young women. For two years, Finitzo captured scenes at home, at school, with friends, at work, going to dances, participating in sports, in close intimate moments with their families, grappling with issues of identity, running away from home, and leaving home for college, ultimately revealing the universal challenges of growing up female in our culture that cross lines of race and class. Working closely with her group of advisors from The American Psychological Association's Task force on Adolescent Girls, Finitzo chose not to look at how these girls failed, but instead at the the ways in which they succeeded. 5 Girls brought a new fresh voice to the films that had come before. The result was an engaging film that Norine Johnson, then the President of the American Psychological Association and an expert in adolescent psychology, called the 'on screen proof of her life's work with girls.' Described by The New York Times as "a remarkable testament to the resilience of youth, " this feature length documentary was a special presentation of the PBS nonfiction series P.O.V, premiering on national public television in the fall of 2001. 5 Girls was awarded the Henry Hampton Award for Excellence from The Council on Foundations, and The Silver Award: The Chicago Film & Television Competition and an award for Outstanding Achievement from the Parent's Guide to Children's Media. 5 Girls also enjoyed a two-week theatrical run at The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago.In 2001, in collaboration with Public Policy Productions, Finitzo directed and produced With No Direction Home, a documentary short about a young man aging out of foster care. The film was chosen by the International Documentary Association to be screened at InFact in 2004, the theatrical festival qualifying films for Academy Award consideration, and it went on to win a 2004 CINE Golden Eagle, a Bronze CHRIS Award and an award from the Columbus International Film & Video Festival.In 2002, she began work on her second documentary produced in collaboration with Kartemquin Films. Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita examined the role of science in a democracy by taking a close-up look at two years in the life and laboratory of Dr. Jack Kessler, a renowned stem cell expert and the Chair of Neurology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. In 2001, Kessler's 15 year old daughter fell while skiing, leaving her paralyzed below the waist. In response to her accident, Kessler changed the focus of his lab, using stem cells to regenerate the damaged spinal cord. Mapping Stem Cell Research: Terra Incognita was the first film to put a human face on this controversial subject by telling the stories of real people grappling with the moral and medical dilemmas of scientific research undertaken in uncharted waters. When Terra Incognita was awarded the 2008 George Foster Peabody for Broadcast Excellence, the Peabody board stated 'Neither scientific facts nor ethical complexity nor emotional drama was sacrificed in this documentary.'Completed in 2007, Terra Incognita was screened in competition at The International Documentary Film Festival '“ Amsterdam, The Chicago International Film Festival, The New Zealand International Film Festival, The Denver Film Festival, The Anchorage International Film Festival, The Council on Foundations Film Festival, The 3rd Intl. Science Film Festival '“ Greece, The Kos International Film Festival, The Wisconsin Film Festival, and the Coruna Science Festival and Mostra de Ciencia e Cinema in Spain. In addition to winning the 2008 George Foster Peabody Award for Broadcast Excellence the film went onto also win the Chicago Hugo Award from The Chicago International Film Festival, an Honorable Mention at DOCNZ, New Zealand's International Documentary Film Festival, two 2nd place jury awards at Mostra de Ciencia e Cinema in Spain, and Best Feature Documentary from the Kos International Film Festival. The film was broadcast nationally in January of 2008 as part of the Independent Lens 2008 season on PBS. Chosen by the Independent Television Service to be a part of their Community Cinema Program, the film was shown theatrically in more than 70 different markets. Terra Incognita has also been broadcast in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Spain and Sweden.In 2007, Finitzo was selected by Sundance Institute to be a 2007 Sundance Documentary Fellow for the 2007 Independent Sundance Producer's Conference. In 2009, she began production on her latest collaboration with Kartemquin Films In the Game, a documentary that follows the ups and downs of an inner city girls' soccer team to reveal the very real obstacles that low-income students confront in their quest for higher education. Personal and intimate, the film takes us into the lives of Hispanic high school girls who face enormous life challenges, due in large part to the partnership of poverty and discrimination and the lack of opportunity that results. The hand they've been dealt in the game is not promising. And yet, as In the Game shows, these young women never complain, choosing instead to play the cards they have been dealt over and over with grace and resilience. In the Game is in post- production.In 2010, Finitzo turned her attention to the stories found in other cultures. With a development grant from The National Endowment for the Humanities, Finitzo began work on Living Revolution, a feature-length documentary that examines the possibilities and perils of social change in the contemporary world through the lives of people caught up in one of the world's most radical social and political experiments—the Bolivian revolution. Through an innovative collaboration between Finitzo and the team of scientists and anthropologists from the Tsimane' Amazonian Panel Study led by Dr. Bill Leonard and Dr. Mark Goodale, a cultural anthropologist, Living Revolution will explore the 'revolution' through the experiences of indigenous leaders, women's rights activists, politicians, opposition intellectuals and the Tsimane', a group of Indigenous people who live in the lowlands of the Bolivian Amazon. The stakes are high for all Bolivians, but in particular the Tsimane'. Social and political change means confronting an increasingly encroaching outside world, an encounter with the other that in the past has brought the Tsimane' exploitation, loss of their cultural heritage and environmental degradation.In 2011, Finitzo continued to explore ways of telling stories by delving into the world of fiction inspired by her own personal narrative. Life Lessons, an 18-minute fiction short from her original screenplay looks back with humor at the experience of studying ballet through the eyes of an 11 year old girl who would rather be anywhere than in a ballet studio. Based on her own experience of studying dance as a child, Life Lessons reveals that life is all about the choices we make. The film premiered at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago and has gone on to screen at the New York Shorts Fest, the LA Shorts Fest, Dances with Films Festival, The Chicago Reel Shorts Film Festival, Talking Pictures Film Festival, the Taos Shortz Fest and the Los Angeles International Women's Film Festival. My Mother's Idea, the companion documentary to Life Lesson, is a memoir that examines the artistic process in the context of the Finitzo's experience as a ballet student at one of the most renowned studios in the world, The Stone '“Camryn School of Ballet, and as a filmmaker. Using behind the scenes footage of the making of her narrative short Life Lessons as the hook, along with scenes from Life Lessons and documentary interviews of former students, family members and colleagues from the dance world, Finitzo explores the creative process by examining the dance careers of Camryn and Stone, the contributions they made to the dance world as artists, the power they had as teachers and -- most important of all -- their profound impact their teachings about dance and life had on the lives of their students. My Mother's Idea premiered nationally at the Palm Beach International Film Festival and premiered on the west coast at the Ojai Film Festival.In 2012, in order to further explore storytelling in the realm of fiction, Finitzo founded Two Sisters Film Productions, a company dedicated to producing compelling stories for the screen. Her first project for Two Sisters is an adaptation of Passion, a short story by award wining author Alice Munro. Finitzo is currently writing the screenplay, which she intends to direct.As an Associate of Kartemquin Films, Finitzo has mentored emerging filmmakers, supported student learning through Kartemquin's robust internship program and engaged the public in the range of issues her films address through the national outreach campaigns that accompany them. Each of her films produced in collaboration with Kartemquin Films has been the centerpiece for major symposiums, are used by universities across the country as teaching tools, and have been the focus of targeted community screenings both nationally and internationally. She is a board member of Kartemquin Films, providing institutional leadership, working to ensure the longevity of the organization and the fulfillment of its mission to develop documentary films focusing on people whose lives are most directly affected by social and political change and who are often overlooked or misrepresented by the media.In June of 2008, she was awarded an MFA from Northwestern University in Writing for the Stage and Screen. Maria holds faculty appointments as an Adjunct Professor at both Columbia College and Northwestern University. FilmThe Passion of Grace Writer/Director Film Arts productions, LLC