Maria Beatty has produced and directed films for over thirty years that are on the cutting edge of art and female eroticism.

A precursor of the so-called new wave of “erotic noir. ” She is renown for her profound explorations of female sexuality, body politics and lesbian desires. Her vision is inspired by expressionist German cinema, French surrealism, American film noir, and gay underground filmmakers such as Jean Genet and Kenneth Anger, who set new standards in erotic cinema.

After a start in the ’80s as a photographer for musicians and performance artists, Beatty started filming in Super 8, making experimental short movies that profiled the eccentric women and transexuals living in her former neighborhood, the Lower East Side of New York City.