At this year’s Young Directors Awards (YDA) in Cannes, France, Matt Miller, President and CEO of AICP presented two Emerging Voices Grants - each in the amount of $15,000: The Women's Voices Career Grant and the Underrepresented Voices Career Grant, awarded to a YDA winner from a historically underrepresented background in directing professions.
The grant recipients were selected from among the winners of the YDA. One of the recipients is Daria Maximova, who won a Silver Honor in the YDA in the Film School (up to 10 minutes) category for IKEA’s “Rooms.”
These grants, from the funds collected to foster these goals, and managed by the DGA Commercials Qualification Administration, together with a mentoring component, are intended to support women and people from other historically underrepresented groups by widening their opportunities to develop careers in the directing craft.
Daria was born in Moscow, and is recent graduate of ArtCenter College of Design, and currently resides in London.
How did you get into filmmaking? How did you learn the craft?
I started working on set when I was 15. It was a historical drama about vikings. We were shooting in the winter, and it was crazy cold. There were a lot of extras that ate lunch in make up, and I was in charge of brushing frozen food out of their fake beards. Then, at 18, I went to film school in Russia, the same one that [Andrei] Tarkovsky went to. In 2022, I moved to LA and went to the same film school that Michael Bay went to. I learned to make films from two very different perspectives.
How long have you been a director?
Technically, I made my first film at eight years old. But more recently, I had this moment of feeling that my ambition and vision was finally matched by my skill. That was a couple of years ago.
How would you describe your style?
I like shooting ugly things in beautiful ways, and vice versa, using the visual style as a counterpoint to what I’m shooting and playing with the expectations that come with a particular aesthetic.
What attracted you to advertising content?
I like the simplicity of advertising: that the message of any ad more or less comes down to “buy this product.” I don’t have to put across my view of the meaning of life; it isn’t life-or-death. That’s incredibly liberating: I can explore a new visual experience and aesthetic without that pressure. And then those deeper questions and feelings can come back into it more organically.
Please tell us about the piece that won at the Young Directors Awards (YDA). Where did the concept come from?
I won for an IKEA spec campaign about a cuck chair, an apple-biting juggler, a pregnant teen, and a mother-to-be. The entire campaign was shot in one day on a very limited budget and got more than 16 million views organically on TikTok and Instagram. We built three rooms from scratch on my university's soundstage, using mostly salvaged/donated materials. The art department would be dressing one room while we shot in another. Fifty people worked on the project, almost all of them for free. Twenty PAs assembled and then disassembled IKEA furniture: every single piece of furniture and decor that you see is from IKEA, except the toilet (IKEA doesn't sell toilets). Brian Pankey, the apple-biting juggler, took a train from Springfield, Illinois to LA to star in the ad. Our aim was to present everyday objects in a new light, and to make sure you'll never look at IKEA the same way again.
What inspires you?
[Swedish director] Roy Andersson, memes, and art galleries. Recently, medieval guns and armour.
How will the AICP Emerging Voices Grant help your career?
It’s already helping. I’m currently writing a short film that I’m aiming to shoot with the money I won. I’m very excited for the mentorship program to kick in.
What are your plans for the future?
I moved to London this year, so shooting stuff in the UK (this short film is next up), meeting people here, and figuring out this culture.
Anything else you’d like us to know about you and your work?
I want to make more of it! Please hire me!
For more information about the YDA and AICP Emerging Voices Grant, please contact info@aicp.com.