Biography

My Profile
Maria Luisa Gambale
Istanbul, Turkey
DP / Director / Producer
Tags: women in documentary  
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Supplementary Information
Title/Occupation:  Cinematographer  Director  Educator  Producer  Researcher 
Gender: Female
Citizenship: U.S./Italy
Languages Spoken: English, Italian, Spanish; some French and Turkish

Brief Message to Members: 

While pursuing my own projects, I am also keenly interested in 1) working with documentary filmmakers in Turkey and helping them to access funds and audience in Western Europe and the United States where the topic fits and 2) finding a suitable feature project to work on as a Director of Photography, as it's something I love doing.

Biography: 

Maria Luisa Gambale is a producer, director and cinematographer based in Istanbul, Turkey. In 2011, her film "Sarabah" about dynamo activist Sister Fa premiered at the Movies That Matter Film Festival and won the Golden Butterfly Award for Human Rights Filmmaking. Since then, the movie (which Maria also shot and co-produced) has played at over 40 festivals internationally, and has been broadcast in the U.S. and Europe. It won the Cine Golden Eagle Award in Fall 2011 for Independent TV Documnetary.

Subsquently, she was a Shooter/Producer on ABC News’s critically acclaimed 8-part documentary series "NY Med," which aired in Summer 2012. She has also produced material in Italy with the New York Times during the February 2013 national elections, and she is developing a feature documentary in southern Italy. Before making "Sarabah," she was Coordinating Producer for Link TV’s "Rappers, Divas and Virtuosos"; Senior Producer for WNET’s "Over Here" (directed by six Brooklyn teenagers); and DP/Assistant Producer on 2001’s "Reconstruction"; with numerous DP credits in between on narratives and documentaries alike.

Maria also produces work for Berlin-based artist David Levine. "Habit," a large-scale theatrical installation, premiered at the Luminato Festival in Toronto in June 2011 and had its New York premiere in September 2012. Previously, she produced his show Venice Saved at PS122 in Spring of 2009.

Maria has taught filmmaking at all levels and alongside many wonderful institutions: Reelworks Teen Filmmaking in Brooklyn; the International Film & Video Workshops in Rockport, Maine; Boston Film and Video Foundation; and New York Film Academy.