Maya Washington is an award-winning filmmaker (writer/director/producer) and actor.
As a freelance film and television director, Maya directed the Heidnik episode of The Killer Next Door, a true crime anthology from Fox in which the architect of criminal profiling for the FBI, John Douglas, decodes the worst serial killers. Additionally, she directed two episodes of the upcoming History Channel series I was There, from Committee Films.
“I Was There,” offers an immersive trip back in time, placing host Theo Wilson—the grandson of a Tuskegee Airman with a passion for history—at the center of some of the world’s most impactful events, to deconstruct how they truly unfolded. Through original archival material, expert testimony and dramatic re-creations using CGI technology to place Wilson in the scene, the series features surprising perspectives on some of the most pivotal moments in history. Wilson is a fly on the wall as he breaks down the barrier between the audience and the action to revisit a series of critical historical events, disasters, triumphs and true stories to learn unexpected facts in an engaging, fast-moving, and often unpredictable way.
Episodes directed by Maya Washington:
Season 1 Episode 8
On January 26, 1986, 2.5 million school children watched live as the Challenger space shuttle exploded in the sky, claiming the lives of seven astronauts–including a teacher. With red flags raised in the days before liftoff and multiple chances to stop the ill-fated launch, Theo Wilson is inside the moments that make you wonder, why did Challenger ever take off?
Season 1 Episode 9
Theo Wilson time travels to the tension-filled 60s to see how inspirational Civil Rights hero, John Lewis, came to lead a historic march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday. Wilson charts Lewis’ career from his first childhood protest, to risking his body and life as a civil rights icon, and the Bloody Sunday march, and how a decision to air it on national TV helped lead to change.
The Killer Next Door is a true crime anthology in which the architect of criminal profiling for the FBI, John Douglas, decodes the worst serial killers. Each episode reveals a different murderer and how law enforcement tracked them. Along the way, Douglas reveals these killers' motivations and what lead them to commit their horrific crimes.
Episode directed by Maya Washington:
Season 1 Episode 3
Gary Heidnik lured several African American women into his Philadelphia basement where he held them prisoner, tortured them in a pit and murdered two of them. But was this brutal killer of the 1980s actually insane? John Douglas reveals secret clues inside the man's twisted past.
Maya Washington’s production company, Running Water Entertainment, LLC, distributed her most recent films: Through the Banks of the Red Cedar, a feature length documentary about her father Vikings Legend Gene Washington and his teammates who were on the first fully-integrated college football team in America which debuted on the Big Ten Network in 2020 and is currently on PBS platforms, and CLEAR a narrative short film about a mixed-blood indigenous woman and her family reconnecting after a 16-year prison sentence for a crime she didn’t commit now streaming on Argo and KweliTV.
Her award-winning narrative short film White Space, starring ABC Family’s Switched at Birth series regular Ryan Lane, is now streaming online through KweliTV after a network television appearance through African American Short Films.
Documentary Feature
Maya Washington Director/Producer/Writer
Through the Banks of the Red Cedar Trailer:
The story unfolds through the eyes of Maya Washington, Gene's youngest daughter, as she uncovers her father's journey and the impact of this legacy on the present generation. Maya traces her father's footsteps from the segregated South to the North, over the course of a modern football season. As she uncovers both the triumphs and defeats of her father's team, she develops a newly formed appreciation for the game and a deeper connection to her father, just in time to witness MSU Spartan Football team ascend to national prominence 50 years later.
The racial demographics seen on the field today are due in large part to Hall of Fame coach Duffy Daugherty’s innovative approach to recruiting African American men from the South to MSU in the 1960s. The success of MSU’s 1965 and 1966 back-to-back Big Ten and National Champion teams invites America to re-think prejudices that previously kept African American players from earning scholarships or starting positions.
The story delves into the triumphs and defeats of Daugherty's integrated team as they finish the season with the historic 1966 "Game of the Century," a 10-10 tie against Notre Dame. Teammates Gene Washington, Bubba Smith , Clinton Jones, and George Webster make history as first round picks in the 1967 draft. Gene Washington and Clinton Jones bring momentum to the Minnesota Vikings, playing in the 1969 Super Bowl alongside legendary teammates Joe Kapp, Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall, John Henderson, Oscar Reed, Dave Osborn and Mick Tingelhoff. Maya's interviews with former players recall the highlights of the Minnesota Vikings' "Purple People Eater" years, as well as the racial discrimination black players faced in the league, speaking to the overall impact African American pioneers had on players' rights, including free agency and the right to negotiate salaries. Her appreciation and gratitude for her father grows deeper as together they reveal how what happened 50 years ago is still relevant today.
visit www.throughthebanksoftheredcedar.com
A warm and invigorating memoir about a daughter’s love for her father and her appreciation for how he and others changed the game of football forever.
Gene Washington’s football career ended long before his daughter Maya was born. She never saw the legendary powerhouse as anything but her dad. She didn’t yet grasp the impact he’d had on the sport―and on America. To understand his historic role in the integration of college football, witness his influence on generations that followed, and fully appreciate his legacy, Maya had a lot of catching up to do.
Maya retraces her father’s journey from the segregated south to Michigan State during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement and his journey as an NFL pioneer after the 1967 draft. She reflects on how her father’s childhood―and the racism he faced―shaped her upbringing and influenced his expectations of her. She also discovers how unbreakable the emotional bond between teammates can be. But above all, Maya and her father get to know each other. As their own bond deepens, so does Maya’s connection to the sport that changed the trajectory of her father’s life…and hers.
Available at libraries and bookstores.
Minnesota Film & TV LACH Production Reimbursement Grant || Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant || Minnesota State Arts Board Arts Tour Grant || Jerome Foundation MN/NYC Film, Video, and Digital Production Grant || Audience Choice Honorable Mention – MN Made Documentary Feature – MSPIFF || Curated in “Best of Fest” screening for MSPIFF 2018
Detroit Free Press Freep Film Festival
Louisiana International Film Festival
Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival
Rochester International Film Festival
Bentonville Film festival
Color of Conversation Film Series, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center
Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival
College Football Hall of Fame - Atlanta, GA December 2021
University of Southern California - Los Angeles, CA February 2020
Iowa State University - Ames, IA February 2020
ASU Global Sport Institute Summit - Phoenix, CA March 2019
Minnesota Vikings Museum - Eagan, MN February 2019
College Football Hall of Fame - Atlanta, GA February 2019
DFW Spartans Cafe Izmir - Dallas, Texas January, 2019
California State University Fullerton Race Gender & Sports Symposium - Fullerton, CA December 2018
Showbiz Cinemas Baytown 10 - Houston, TX October 2018
MSP Film Society Capri Theater - Minneapolis, MN October 2018
Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI September 2018
West Michigan Spartans Wealthy Theatre - Grand Rapids, MI September 2018
Minnesota State University Mankato - Mankato, MN March 28, 2018
College of St. Scholastica & University of Minnesota Duluth - Duluth, MN February, 2018
Written, directed, and produced, by Maya Washington. Samantha Manalang and Tina Barr, Producers.
Ava Egertson in CLEAR, 2018. Photo credit, TJ Schwingle.
George Keller in CLEAR, 2018. Photo credit, TJ Schwingle.
Ava Egertson, George Keller, Santino Craven in CLEAR, 2018. Photo credit, TJ Schwingle.
CLEAR (2018) was inspired by the dissertation research of producer Tina Nagata Barr, PhD School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and a former faculty member at University of North Carolina Pembroke. A collaboration was born between Maya Washington, and Dr. Nagata Barr in researching the post-release experiences of exonerees and their families, in the creation of an original film featuring a mixed-blood indigenous family.
Maya Washington crafted the narrative based on eight months of research into publicly available texts and artifacts. These texts and artifacts included a comprehensive review of the research literature, as well as the “grey literature,” such as newspaper articles, documentaries, investigative journalism television programs, podcasts, and exoneree biographies on the Innocence Project and National Registry of Exonerees websites. The creative process was further informed by Tina Nagata Barr’s preliminary research from a study examining exonerees’ experiences. As a form of arts-based research, findings were distilled into a single composite story of a female character, Ember, who is exonerated and released from prison.
CLEAR continues to screen nationwide, and has even touched global academic audiences in order to spark conversation and support advocacy in the area of Wrongful Conviction, and the lack of resources provided to those who’ve been wrongfully incarcerated and their families.
visit www.facebook.com/ClearShortFilm/
Jury Award - Best Narrative Short Film, One Nation Film Festival 2018
Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant 2017
Denton Black Film Festival - Denton, TX January 2019
Red Nation Film Festival - Beverly Hills, CA November 2018
Cucalorus Film Festival - Wilmington, NC November 2018
Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival - Vineyard Haven, MA August 2018
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival - Minneapolis, MN April 2018
Nevada Women’s Film Festival - Las Vegas, NV March, 2018
One Nation Film Festival - Colorado Springs, CO February, 2018
University of Bucharest - Bucharest, Romania (Google Hangout) March, 2019
University of North Carolina at Pembroke - Pembroke, NC February, 2019
California State University Fullerton - Fullerton, CA April, 2018
Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR) Conference- Washington, DC (Electronic Poster) January, 2018
University of Minnesota School of Social Work - St. Paul, MN June, 2017
Narrative Short Film
Maya Washington Director/Producer/Writer, Lead Actress
Written, directed, and produced, by Maya Washington. Freddy Hakimi and Samantha Manalang, Producers.
White Space (2011) follows the inner life of a deaf performance poet (Ryan Lane) as he makes his debut at an open-mic night for a hearing audience. A global festival favorite, the film inspired a transmedia effort : White Space Poetry Anthology featuring the work of Deaf and Hearing Artists, White Space Poetry Project - ASL Interpreted Poetry events, educational workshops, and open-captioned film screenings. to elevate the profile of Deaf artists and collaborations between the hearing and Deaf communities, as well as making live poetry and film events more accessible to Deaf audiences and performers.
White Space has toured globally, and was broadcast on Network Television as a selection of the program African American Short Films, and is available on kweliTV.com— an interactive streaming platform that celebrates the African Diaspora experience, community and culture through dope, undiscovered documentaries, films, web shows, children’s programming, news and more.
visit www.whitespacepoetryproject.com
WINNER BEST SHORT FILM
2012 Hollywood Black Film Festival
WINNER BEST SHORT FILM
2012 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival
WINNER BEST IN FEST
2012 Co-Kisser Poetry Film Festival
WINNER BEST IN CATEGORY
2012 Co-Kisser Poetry Film Festival
WINNER INDIE SOUL SPECIAL RECOGNITION AWARD
2012 Boston International Film Festival
NOMINATION OUTSTANDING INDEPENDENT SHORT FILM
2013 Black Reel Awards
2014 Hong Kong International Deaf Film Festival
2013 CINEDEAF Rome International Film Festival
2013 Gebärdensprachfilmwoche Berlin Film Festival
2013 Toronto International Deaf Film Festival
2013 Indie Boots Film Festival
2013 Langston Hughes African American Film Festival
2012 Hollywood Black Film Festival
2012 Tallgrass International Film Festival
2012 Urbanworld Film Festival
2012 Co-Kisser Poetry-Film Festival
2012 Budapest International Short Film Festival
2012 Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival
2012 Cinema and Civics
2012 Northern Spark Festival
2012 Maine Deaf Film Festival
2012 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival
2012 Seattle Deaf Film Festival
2012 WAMMFest Women and Minorities in Media Festival
2012 Boston International Film Festival
2012 Women’s International Film and Arts Festival
2012 Sedona International Film Festival
2012 San Diego Black Film Festival
2011 African American Women in Cinema Festival
2011 Costa Rica International Film Festival
2011 Cinema Touching Disability Film Festival
Young Author’s Conference - Bethel, MN
Sheridan School - Minneapolis, MN
Intermedia Arts - Minneapolis, MN
MSP Film Society at Minneapolis-St.Paul International Airport - Bloomington, MN
Pillsbury House Theatre - Minneapolis, MN
Bay Lake Camp - Bay Lake, MN
California State University San Bernardino - San Bernardino, CA
ITVS Community Cinema at Chapman University - Orange, CA
