Maria Agui Carter is a storyteller who marries critical investigation with vivid imagination.
María Agui Carter grew up undocumented in New York City, graduated from Harvard on scholarship, and is now a professor at Emerson College. Maria’s storytelling blends investigation with imagination to shine a spotlight on singular Latinx characters who emerge triumphant from the intersectional rubble of history, race, conflict and identity.
She directed the award-winning hybrid film Rebel (PBS, Amazon) about a Latina soldier and spy of the American Civil War. Her magical realist script Secret Life Of La Mariposa, about climate change and immigration, is in development, and her feature documentary Birthright is in early production.
Maria got her start as a Producer at WGBH, Boston’s flagship Public Television station, where over a dozen of her documentaries broadcast internationally, and premiered at film festivals from Tribeca to Frameline. She has been awarded distinctive Fellowships from NALIP, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NYC Mayor's Office, Sundance Institute, and Concordia Studio, among others.
Maria is a writer and director highly regarded for her rigorous research and thoughtful exploration of history, combined with her imaginative approach to intimate storytelling. Like the singular characters she champions in all of her work, Maria is a cultural risk taker who smashes boundaries of imagination and transcends limits of possibility.
HONOURS & DISTINCTIONS
Maria has won a George Peabody Gardner award, the Warren, and a Rockefeller Award. She has served as a visiting scholar at Harvard, Tulane and Brandeis. A gifted public speaker, she has been asked to speak at the White House, NEA, Smithsonian, Tribeca, DOC NYC, and the IDA Getting Real biannual conference. She has served as juror for film festivals and funds from IDA to ITVS and NEH.
• Concordia Fellow 2020
• Sundance Director’s Club Intensive Fellow, 2018
• MOME Fellow (Mayor’s Office for Media & Entertainment) NYC, 2016, 2017
• Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Director’s Tour, 2015-2016
• Cine Qua Non Screenwriting Lab Fellow, Mexico, 2015
LEADERSHIP
Maria is a former Board Chair and Trustee of NALIP (The National Association of Latino Independent Producers) and serves on its Women's Board. She is treasurer for the International Documentary Association (IDA) and is a member of the Writer's Guild of America, East, and serves on its Diversity Coalition.
She has been a panelist, judge, and/or speaker at film festivals and industry conferences, foundations, and film funds, including NEA, NEH, ITVS, LPB, IDA, ITVS. She has been a featured speaker at national conferences and Summits including Smithsonian, White House Latino Heritage Forum, UnidosUS, Sundance Film Festival, the Allied Media Conference, the Provincetown Women's Summit, Tribeca, DOC NYC and Harvard. She is the founder of ARC (Artist Retreat Center) NALIP, an arts residency for women filmmakers and screenwriters of color. She has also served as a mentor for other producers through labs and programs at NALIP and Firelight Media. She is also a 2022 winner of a Spark grant from the National Endowment for Humanities & Firelight Media for BIRTHRIGHT, an essay film exploring the racialized roots of immigration policy in America.