María José Maldonado
DIRECTOR
María José Maldonado
YEAR
2025
COUNTRY
United States
RUNTIME
15
minutes
LANGUAGE
English | Spanish
PRODUCER
María José Maldonado
CAST
Bianca "Exotica" Maldonado María José Maldonado
Bianca “Exotica” Maldonado was an Ecuadorian-born transfemme dominatrix who became a trailblazer for trans visibility in 1990s media and New York City nightlife. Her niece, María José Maldonado, has tenderly assembled the moments surrounding her aunt’s funeral in 1996. The resulting film offers a rare view into a family’s grief following the tragic loss of their loved one to AIDS-related illness.
World Premiere
María José Maldonado (she/they/fairy) is a queer Salvadorian-Ecuadorian filmmaker and writer from Queens, NY. Her work affirms transness as a vital part of family legacy. Her docushort “My Fierce Aunt Bianca” has screened at Inside Out, New York Latino Film Festival, San Francisco Transgender Film Festival, among others, and has exhibited at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art and Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts at Governor's Island. In 2025, María José had her first solo exhibition “My Fierce Aunt Bianca” with FEMME Art Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland, tracing her late transgender aunt’s life and legacy through film, archival fragments, and acts of remembrance. They were also a Philadelphia Latino Arts & Film Festival Fellow (PHLAFF) for “AIDS Couldn’t Take Our Memories Of You,” supported by PHLAFF and the New York State Council on the Arts. In 2025, she also participated in Third World Newsreel’s Production Workshop and En Foco’s Artist Fellowship. She’s an alum of Queer|Art|Mentorship, Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art Fellowship, Visual AIDS’s Research Fellowship, BRIC Documentary Intensive, P.S. 64Q, Dartmouth College and Howard University. Currently, she’s working on her debut feature documentary about her beloved aunt Bianca. She’s a full-time mami-artist raising a beautiful toddler. Follow her work + rants: IG: @saymariajose @myfierceauntbianca Website: www.saymariajose.com
