Who am I?
Maria Victoria Ponce is a San Francisco Bay Area filmmaker who was born in her grandmother's dirt-floored kitchen in rural Michoacan, Mexico. Her work navigates the complexities in the routine lives within poor and working-class neighborhoods: themes of immigration, sexuality and coming of age tend to recur. Ponce is a recipient of Sundance/WIF Financing Intensive, Film Independent Fast Track, Tribeca/AT&T Untold Stories and an artist resident at SFFILM FilmHouse. She received grants from SFFILM Rainin, and PBS - The Latino Experience. Most recently she was named the Rainin Fellow in Film 2022 through the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and awarded the LPB Digital Media Fund 2024.
Her films have played at Morelia International Film Festival, Aesthetica Short Film Festival, Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, Urbanworld, Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival and HBO/New York International Latino Film Festival, among others. Her short film, Death & Deathability (A Period Piece) premiered on PBS. She recently wrote an episode for the Imagen Awards nominated PBS's Sound Field on Sierreño music.
Completed Projects
WORKS IN PROGRESS
JUAN PO AND THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL
Inspired by his R&B idol and wanting to impress the teacher he is crushing on, 12-year-old Juan Po gets a DIY perm done by his father. Now he must survive an entire day at school with a mangled ‘fro.
STORY
Hella Aqua Net is the warm-hearted and often hilarious story of Esme, 26, a first-generation Mexican-American. She’s what LL Cool J would call an “around the way girl.” She loves running three days a week. But even as she eats healthy and stays fit, the ghost of her former chubby self haunts her in spite of the vanquished pounds.
Esme flourishes in creativity. Though she hopes to do hair and makeup for the big leagues, she has one slight problem: her stubbornly traditional father, Silvano. He has his own dream for Esme; namely, to take over his successful panaderia. All of this has Esme being deceitful, as she doesn’t want to break her father’s heart: That darn guilt. For his part, Silvano notices Esme slipping away. Meanwhile, Esme’s mother Socorro is caught in the middle, trying to get them to see eye to eye and to restore peace to the family...
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