About

Maria Gabriela Cárdenas is a writer-director based in Los Angeles whose work fuses psychological realism with bold, genre-driven storytelling. Drawn to stories that live between fear and desire, she explores how identity, control, and obsession shape the human experience.

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Her debut feature, A Dark Foe, a psychological thriller starring Oscar Cardenas, Selma Blair, Academy Award nominee Graham Greene, Bill Bellamy, and Glenn Morshower, received a limited theatrical release through Vertical Entertainment and is now streaming on Prime Video.

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A 2024 Alliance of Women Directors Mentor Latina Directors Fellow and 2023 Blackmagic Collective Future Women of TV Fellow, Maria is currently developing Joelle, a psychological thriller with body-horror and musical elements that examines the destructive impact of beauty standards and control on a young girl’s identity.