Deirdre Maitre received her MFA from Temple University in Film & Media Arts in 2005. She has been the recipient of many awards including, the Ben Lazaroff Screenwriting Scholarship, FMA Department Project Grants (2003 & 2004), a Philadelphia Independent Film & Video Association Subsidy Grant (2004) and a prestigious Completion Grant from the University Fellowship Committee of the Graduate Board of Temple University (2005).

Deirdre has taught undergraduate film classes since 2004. Courses include Advanced Editing and Sound, Introduction to Film, Film History, Emerging Cinemas, Postmodernism & Cinema, Writing for Media and Media & Culture.

Currently, Deirdre is an Artist in Residence in the Cinema & Digital Arts Department in the Conservatory of Performing Arts at Point Park University, where she heads the program’s concentration in film editing.

In addition to teaching, Deirdre served for two years as an IT support specialist at Drexel University’s Westphal College of Media Arts & Design. Her primary responsibility was post production system management for more than 25 Final Cut Pro HD editing workstations. At Westphal, she spearheaded the Film & Video program’s shift away from SD tape-based digitization to a tapeless workflow environment.

Outside of teaching, Deirdre runs her own company that offers digital video solutions for small organizations and businesses. In addition, she freelances on independent film projects. Currently, she is producer post production supervisor on Deron Albright’s feature film The Destiny of Lesser Animals.

Her own current work in progress, Is God Sleeping? is a short documentary about a young Haitian painter struggling as an immigrant in the United States after the catastrophic earthquake that struck the Caribbean nation in January 2010.

In addition to filmmaking, Deirdre enjoys photography. Her most recent photo essay Permission features personal portraits of the residents of Saint Marie, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The series aims to counterbalance negative imagery featuring Haitians in conflict and poverty that often permeates the mainstream American and foreign press.

Currently, Deirdre lives with her husband and their two dogs in Philadelphia.

contact: deirdre.maitre@temple.edu