About Us
Makazan Films is a full-service production company headed by Writer-Director-Producer-Actor, Paige Morrow Kimball. As a multi-hyphenate with 25 years of production experience, Paige has a 360 degree view of the entertainment industry from both sides of the camera and the creative eye to lead her team from concept to final delivery. Makazan Films (named after her daughters Mak & Zan) is committed to creating uplifting stories and hiring women and other marginalized artists in as many key positions as possible. Paige and her team of creative collaborators firmly believe, if girls can see it, they can be it!
LEARN MORE ABOUT @BESTDIRECTHER – THE WOMAN DIRECTOR ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION I CO-FOUNDED.
Our Collective of 200 Women DGA members formed in 2018 after yet again, no female directors were nominated for DGA awards in the Best Feature and Best First Time Feature categories. BestDirectHER’s mission is to create more opportunities for Women Directors in a male-dominated industry.
Our Projects
PLAY DATE – SHORT FILM
ENDING UP – SHORT FILM
EXILED OUT EAST – PILOT
LEMONADE: WINNING – WEBISODE
POWERS - AWARD WINNING INDIE SHORT DOCUMENTARY 2023
OFF THE WALL: LOS ANGELES PBS 2022
ANA GUERERRO - CHIEF OF STAFF LA CITY TV 2018
SESAME STREET LETTER FILM:
R IS FOR REUSE
SESAME STREET NUMBER FILM: THE AMAZING NUMBER 9
SESAME STREET LETTER FILM: D IS FOR DOG
SESAME STREET MONSTER FOODIES: PICKLES
SESAME STREET MONSTER FOODIES: PLUMS
SESAME STREET MONSTER FOODIES: AVOCADOS
SESAME STREET MONSTER FOODIES: GARLIC
SESAME STREET MONSTER FOODIES: ONIONS
SESAME STREET ELMO'S WORLD: CELEBRATIONS
SESAME STREET MONSTER FOODIES: CELERY
SESAME STREET MONSTER FOODIES: ARTICHOKES
SESAME STREET ELMO'S WORLD: THANKSGIVING
SESAME STREET MONSTER FOODIES: CACTUS
SESAME STREET MONSTER FOODIES: SALT
ACCOLADES
Our Projects Have Received Many Honors and Awards:
- Cleveland Int’l Film Festival: Best Women’s Short Film
- Outshine Film Festival: Best Short Film
- Wicked Queer Film Festival: Best in Show
- Cordillera Film Festival: Special Jury Nominee
- Woods Hole Film Festival: Runner Up: Best Short Documentary
- Downtown LA Film Festival: Best Short Documentary
- Port Townsend Film Festival: Best Short Documentary
- Ojai Film Festival: Best Short Documentary
- Pittsburgh Shorts Film Festival: Best Short Doctumentary
- Vero Beach Best Short Documentary Jury Award
- Vero Beach Best Short Documentary Audience Award
- Napa Valley Film Festival: Audience Favorite
- Boston Kids Int’l Film Festival: Best Short Film
- International Family Film Festival: Best Short Film
- Moondance Int’l Film Festival: Best Short & Best Child Actor
- San Jose Shorts Int’l Film Festival: Audience Favorite
- Park City Int’l Film Festival: Best Short Finalist
- Hendricks Foundation: Quarter Finalist Prize Winner
- Coverfly: Top 1% & Top 20 of the Month
- ScreenCraft Film Fund: Finalist
- Atlanta Film Festival Script Competition: Quarter Finalist
- The Writers Lab: Semi-Finalist
- Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition: Second Rounder
- Launch Pad Competition: Second Rounder
- Screen Craft Drama Competition: Semi Finalist
- Nichol: Top 15%
- Sundance Writers Lab: Final Rounder
THE MAKAZAN FILMS DIRECTING PROGRAM
The 2023 Makazan Films Director Program Award
The mission of the Directors Program is to create a kinder, gentler program which treats every applicant as an individual and with respect.
We received 167 strong applications and as the process of selecting a final director went on, it became clear that the future of our industry is in talented, thoughtful hands.
After careful consideration, our selection committee would like to award Bat-Sheva Guez the title of Makazan Films 2023 Director! Congratulations Bat-Sheva!!!
Bat-Sheva Guez is passionate about weaving dance and magic into visually compelling, character-driven stories. She has directed over 20 short films and screened at festivals worldwide including the Hamptons International Film Festival, the Rhode Island Film Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, the Brooklyn Film Festival and more.
She directed the pilot episode of READING RAINBOW LIVE, bringing back the beloved tv show to a new generation of viewers. She also directs branded content for clients like Lincoln Center, JP Morgan, Conde Nast, Pfizer, and others.
She was a finalist for the 2020 Screencraft Screenwriting Fellowship, the recipient of the JT3 Artist Award for Screenwriting & Directing and has been awarded screenwriting residencies by New York Stage and Film, the Lighthouse Film Festival and the Nostros Screenwriting Retreat in Tuscany.
Awards include Best Director at the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival, Best Short Film at the Moondance Film Festival, Best Cinematography and Best Musical for two different films at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and Best Experimental at the Brooklyn Film Fest, among others. Her work has been written about in the New York Times, Forbes, LA Review of Books, Dance Magazine, and more.
She is a co-producer on the feature documentary, BEING BEBE, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, won Best Documentary at the Sound Unseen Film Festival, screened at over 30 fests, and has received global distribution from OutTV and Fuse among others.
She’s currently attached to direct the feature film LOVELLA (produced by Lauren Lloyd and written by Laurel Elizabeth Hasara) and is in the financing stage of her own feature film, AND HOW SHE- with an award-winning script Guez has written.
With so many standout and talented applicants we created some additional awards for this program.
The Industry Access / Collaboration Award :
Makazan Films will make introductions for the Awardees to industry contacts and we will explore potential collaborative concepts, in an effort to help move the needle for these talented directors.
Radha Mehta
Radha Mehta (she/her) is an award-winning Multidisciplinary Artist versed in films, music, and painting. She holds an MFA in Film (Directing) from American Film Institute Conservatory and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She is a voting member of The Recording Academy, a RespectAbility Entertainment Fellow, and is an active member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Bitchitra Collective, Asian American Doc Network, Women In Film, and Film Independent. Radha’s works are deeply rooted in personal experiences of being ‘othered’, specifically around topics of motherhood, disability, womxn empowerment, and overcoming cultural taboos entrenched within her South Asian culture. Her MFA thesis film “DOSH”, currently in consideration for festivals, is about a young South Asian hard-of-hearing mother who seeks help for her bipolar husband despite shame experienced within her community. Her recent short docs “Evan Ever After” screened at prestigious festivals including OutFest, InsideOut, and won an Audience Award at Florida Film Festival; and “Being Gina” was awarded a Top 3 Finalist at the WrapWomen 2021 Power Women Summit for the STARZ/Lionsgate ‘Telling Our Stories’ competition.
Shayna Strype
Shayna Strype is a director and multimedia artist working in film, animation, and theater. Her work utilizes handmade, mixed media techniques to tell meaningful stories. Shayna’s latest film, ‘Our Mine,’ won Best Experimental Film at Brooklyn Film Festival and Dumbo Film Festival, and was screened at Palm Springs ShortFest, Ann Arbor, and Bushwick Film Festival, among others. Her short film, ‘Hearty Fluff’ is currently distributed by Heather Henson’s Handmade Puppet Dreams on Amazon Prime. This year, Shayna will direct Trusty Sidekick Theater’s new show, ‘Frolic,’ a sensory-theater play for young audiences on the autism spectrum. Shayna holds an MFA in Theater from Sarah Lawrence College and has taught at The School of Visual Arts, Friends Seminary, and Mono No Aware Filmmaking Collective in Brooklyn, NY.
The Mentiorship Award :
Asha Boston
Asha’s talent and undeniable potential as a director garnered her this Award. Asha will be given the opportunity to shadow on a future Makazan Films production. She will also be introduced to industry executives and mentored throughout the year by Paige Morrow Kimball.