Maya is an emotional film with unexpected twists. Screenplay very well written and Directed by Julia Verdin. Maya, played by Isabella Feliciana, did a magnificent job bringing Maya’s truth to the screen. This film provided an awareness that I did not possess before. I highly recommend watching it. Review by Jake Jacobson
Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has acquired North American theatrical, DVD, and VOD rights to Julia Verdin’s feature MAYA. MAYA will begin its limited theatrical release on January 21, 2024 with a screening at the Chandler International Film Festival in Arizona, followed by a Q&A presented by anti-trafficking organization Cece’s Hope Center. Following a Los Angeles premiere January 24, MAYA will be released in additional U.S. theatrical markets starting January 26, 2024—including Minneapolis, Detroit, Dallas, Miami, and Los Angeles so far—and will be available to rent/own on the same day on all digital HD internet, cable, and satellite platforms in North America. The film will also have a community release program for churches, community groups, and non-profits. MAYA will be available to own on DVD on March 12, 2024. The film comes timed for January 2024, the US‘s National Human Trafficking Prevention Month.
MAYA, written and directed by Julia Verdin, is presented by the non-profit social impact organization Artists for Change. In the film, teenager Maya (Isabella Feliciana) is raised in a household stricken by her father’s abandonment and her mother’s (Patricia Velasquez) ensuing alcoholism. She seeks an escape from her mother’s abusive boyfriend by confiding in a man she meets online, who convinces her to run away. Unbeknownst to Maya, she has been lured into a child trafficking scheme where her confidant quickly becomes her pimp, along with an older captive Kayla (Rumer Willis). While Maya fights to understand the difference between love and manipulation, her mother must fight through her addiction to bring her daughter home.
Verdin says, “I was inspired to write MAYA after hearing many stories from survivors of trafficking about the Stockholm syndrome-type relationships they had with their traffickers. They had been manipulated into believing that their trafficker was the only person who was trustworthy and truly cared for them. To represent these realities of human trafficking in the most authentic way possible, I made sure to meet with anti-trafficking groups and trafficking task force detectives, in addition to survivors. My hope is that MAYA will help educate teenagers and parents as to what trafficking looks like—when people join their voices on an issue, change is possible!”
British filmmaker Julia Verdin is an award-winning multi-hyphenate writer, director, and producer. She has produced dozens of films, including THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons, and 2 JACKS, with Sienna Miller, Danny Huston, Jack Huston, and Jacqueline Bisset. Previous films she has directed include LOST GIRLS (Best Social Impact Film at the Culver City Film Festival) and the award-winning crime drama ANGIE: LOST GIRLS. Verdin is currently in post-production on another social impact film she wrote and directed—NO ADDRESS, which is about homelessness in America—and will be directing an upcoming feature about the Opioid crisis from another script she wrote.
MAYA made its World Premiere at the Raindance Film Festival in London on October 30, 2023.
Freestyle Digital Media negotiated the deal to acquire MAYA directly with filmmaker Julia Verdin.
Artists for Change is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to create impact film, television, and multimedia projects that inspire individuals and communities to bring about positive social change. Narrative media is unique in its ability to engage emotions with multidimensional characters moving through evocative worlds, allowing for a transformative understanding of messages, values, and actions. Socially conscious stories developed by diverse artists across our global sociopolitical landscape can help us visualize grounded solutions with vital empathy, mobilizing people to stand up for what they believe in.
Review by Jake Jacobson
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