An ex-pat New Zealander, Maryanne arrived in Berlin in 1985 with a BA in classical studies and a post-grad Diploma in Drama/Theater Studies – and ended up staying. Amongst other things, she has been a multi-media performance artist, theatre technician, experimental filmmaker, translator, drama teacher for people living with disabilities and has given art lessons to young Aboriginal people in Central Australia. She is also an authorised teacher of the Feldenkrais method. In the mid-nineties she began work at the Berlinale, and was Head of Berlinale Generation from 2007-2022, where she was in the position to develop that brilliant platform, giving young and young at heart audiences access to challenging, state -of- the-art-films-that-matter, from around the world, As Head Curator for the Berlinale special series: NATIVe – A Journey into Indigenous Cinema (2011-2019), she co-created a platform which shone the light on and gave added context to a vast body of genius international Indigenous cinematic story telling – and to the tellers. As member of the Berlinale Competition selection committee (2009-2019), and as official Festival Delegate for Australia and New Zealand (2004 -2020), Maryanne gained in-depth knowledge of the cinema-industry and its players. A member of both the European Film Academy (EFA) and the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (APSA), she is presently working as mentor and consultant for different projects in the field of cinema in Europe and Australasia.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.