Growing up as a queer woman in a persecuted religious minority in Iran helped Maaman develop a dark sense of humor which she later utilized for a career in filmmaking. She went from being a political prisoner at the age of 17 to getting kicked out of universities in Iran due to political activities, to becoming a political refugee in the US.
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After receiving her MFA in film, she pursued an academic career as an assistant professor of film in University of New Mexico before finally finding her dream of being unemployed during the Hollywood strike in LA. Through all of it, she writes and directs stories that focus on issues of memory, belonging and transcultural dynamics, some of which are funny too.​
Her feature script Ashes was a finalist at Sundance Development Lab and her short films have screened in Oscar-qualifying festivals such as LA Shorts, Blackstar and deadCenter and galleries including Institute of Contemporary Arts LA and Anthology Film Archive.
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Recently, she became a fellow at Writers Guild Foundations’ Access program and shadowed Steph Green (Emmy and Oscar-nominated Director) on the set of Duster, a new crime-thriller series created by JJ Abrams and LaToya Morgan.