Writer and director Maru Buendia-Senties is a Mexico City native who relocated with her family, when she was young, to move to the United States. Her work promotes female representation, showcasing her personal experiences on the screen. She has been honored by the Princess Grace Foundation and has worked on five award winning films. Buendia-Senties got her Masters in Fine Arts Film Production from the University of Texas in Austin. She was part of the NALIP Latino Lens Short Narrative Incubator and produced her award-winning short film “Windows”. Her short film touches on the topics of humanity and technology. See more about the film here.

Buendia-Senties talks about her work with a select genre of films and their significance. “I like to write stories about horror, action, science fiction and I like it because when you go into genre filmmaking, you open an endless world of possibilities.” Working with these genres has not been easy for Buendia-Senties. She explains, “Genre filmmaking, is not usually something you see in female Mexican writers/directors. For some reason these genres are associated with men, ‘Men can do action better, men can do horror better.’”

When creating characters, Buendia-Senties provides female representation by giving women the same skill capabilities as men. Inclusion to her means, “The reflection of what the world already has: different races, different genders, and having them all come together. That's what we reflect by being inclusion.” She included language is an important factor when it comes to writing the dialogue. “Why not put a female lead in a sci-fi film? Why not have them speak Spanish, that's what I did with my sci-fi “Windows,” Buendia-Senties states. Buendia-Senties shares her positive experience with the community she has built. Her work and self have developed more professionally and she expresses her content when engaging with other NALIP members and affiliates, “It was actually seeing somebody believe so much in a project and understanding what the project was about.” Latinx representation has risen over the past couple of years and Buendia-Senties voices why she chose to commit to NALIP, “I was inspired to get in touch with their whole mission. They really do give you an opportunity to be your best and show people what you can really do.”