Reema Maya is a two-time Sundance Film Festival nominated filmmaker and creative entrepreneur. Reema is currently headlining the series adaptation of Karan Johar’s 2012 hit Student Of The Year. She is the creator, showrunner, director and head writer of the series which is her re-imagination of the franchise. The project is being produced by Dharmatic Entertainment (Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta & Somen Mishra) for Jiohotstar. She is also writing and directing a Science-Fiction featurette, part of the cinematic universe of one of India’s most successful Science-Fiction films.

Her 2018 short film Counterfeit Kunkoo had its world premier at the Sundance Film Festival 2018, where it was the first Indian fiction short to be nominated in 16 years. It has since been selected at 120+ international film festivals and won 40 awards. Her 2023 short Nocturnal Burger had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2023 and has won 37 awards so far. It qualified for Best Live Action Short Film at the Oscars. Nocturnal Burger also won ‘Best Film’, ‘Best Director’ & ‘Best Actress’ awards at the Critics Choice Awards in India.

In 2023, Reema founded and co-curated ‘Alp’ a short-form video festival, in association with Soho House Mumbai. The two-day festival celebrated video in all its short-form manifestations – fiction, documentary, animation, music videos, advertising, new media and live-visuals.

Under the banner of her award-winning production studio CATNIP, Reema has created campaign films for several global brands including Netflix, H&M, Jeep, Royal Enfield, boAt, Uber, Tissot, Singleton Whiskey, Bacardi, Breezer, Red Bull, Budweiser, and more. She has worked with international music labels like Elektra and Warner Music Group, and has created music videos for reputed artists such as Prateek Kuhad, Ritviz, DIVINE as well as for Badshah, DIVINE & Jonita Gandhi’s first ever collaboration for Netflix.

In 2024, Reema was awarded Manifest Magazine’s ‘India’s Next Top 10 directors’. She has been also featured in Hindustan Times’ ’30 under 30’, Harper’s Bazaar’s ‘101 Creatives to Watch’, Elle India’s ‘5 Boss Ladies Who’re Changing the Indie Music Scene’ and Luxelife’s ‘The New 40’.

Reema was awarded the prestigious Asian Film Academy Fellowship Award in 2012. She is also a two-time Tedx speaker. She studied Contemporary Media Practice at the University of Westminster, London where she explored new & convergent media and graduated at the top of the Media Art and Design School.