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Maria Maggenti (born c. 1962) is a film director and screenwriter for film and television who has traditionally created independent films.

{| class="wikitable" |Contents 1. Early Life 2. Film Career 3. Personal Life 4. Awards 5. Filmography 6. References |}

Early Life

Maria Maggenti attended Smith College where she studied Philosophy and Greek and Latin Classics. She moved to New York City and worked in television commercials and the production of gay rights and AIDS activist documentaries . She then enrolled in NYU's Graduate Film Program and was awarded a teaching fellowship. During the time between 1990 and 1994, Maggenti worked on various short films. Her first film, The Incredibly True Story of Two Girls in Love (1995), helped Maggenti transition into and make a name for herself in the film community.

Film Career

The two movies Maggenti created were low-budget and low-profit. The first movie she ever created was The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995), which turned out to be successful even with no budget. Maggenti started the script with the image of a tomboy, who she later realized was based on her first girlfriend. Her movie, Puccini for Beginners (2006), a romantic comedy based on her first big love affair with a man, was filmed in New York City over the span of 18 days and released on September 2, 2006. Maggenti's involvement writing for the crime series Without a Trace was a shift due to the fact that she was working alongside others instead of alone; as she had been doing for 10 years. She describes how she, "ultimately came to love it" and "loved her colleagues". While she did enjoy being in the company of "all these smart people" she adds that from a lifestyle point of view, she didn't like "the idea that we had to work Monday through Friday every day in an office for 11 straight months". In 2007, she was commissioned by Sundance Film Festival to create a movie for a cell phone .

Personal Life

After working on her first few films, Maggenti relocated to Los Angeles; shifting her focus to television writing. In Los Angeles, she wrote for the crime series Without a Trace, which was released in 2002. Maggenti is a self-identified lesbian and is strongly involved with the LGBTQ activist lifestyle. She has been involved with the AIDS activist group ACT UP, which works to impact the lives of people with AIDS.

Awards

Maggenti received the Best Feature award for her movie Puccini for Beginners (2006) at the, 2007 Barcelona International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival. Puccini for Beginners (2006) was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.