Manuel Alberto Maia

MANUEL ALBERTO MAIA (ABE) Filmmaker | Director | Film Festival Organiser Manuel Alberto Maia, widely known as Abe, is an Indonesian filmmaker and director based in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology Education from Universitas Nusa Cendana in 2013. Although his academic background is in biology, his growing interest in cinema and storytelling led him to pursue filmmaking as a form of artistic expression and a medium for documenting the social and cultural realities of communities. His filmmaking journey began in 2012 when he co-founded Komunitas Film Kupang, an initiative dedicated to nurturing local filmmaking talent and strengthening the film ecosystem and cinematic culture in East Nusa Tenggara. In 2013, he joined the Kickstart! programme organised by In-Docs, where he participated in an introductory documentary filmmaking workshop and produced his first short film. This experience marked the beginning of his commitment to documentary storytelling and his exploration of the social and cultural realities of communities through cinema. His feature-length documentary debut, Nokas (2016), screened at several national and international film festivals, including the Singapore International Film Festival, Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, Festival Film Dokumenter, and Freedom Film Festival. The film was also nominated for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the 2016 Indonesian Film Festival (Festival Film Indonesia). He subsequently directed the short fiction film Siko (2018), which was nominated for Best Short Film at the 2018 Indonesian Film Festival, and Uma De Raffa (2022), which screened at the Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival. In 2026, he released Arubara, a short documentary produced in collaboration with Video Consortium and the Skoll Foundation. Beyond his filmmaking practice, Abe is deeply committed to strengthening the film ecosystem in Eastern Indonesia. He is one of the initiators of Flobamora Film Festival, which has grown into one of the largest short film festivals in Eastern Indonesia and has been held annually for the past five years. Through this initiative, he helps create opportunities for emerging filmmakers, encourages stories rooted in local experiences and perspectives, and expands networks for regional filmmakers to reach wider audiences. Currently, Abe is developing several short and feature-length screenplays while conducting research and development for upcoming documentary projects. His artistic practice is rooted in an interest in human experiences, cultural identity, local knowledge, and social change. He is particularly interested in bringing underrepresented stories from East Nusa Tenggara and Eastern Indonesia to broader audiences. Through filmmaking and community-based initiatives, he seeks to preserve local narratives, amplify community voices, and create meaningful dialogue between local experiences and global perspectives. FILMOGRAPHY 2026 – Arubara Short Documentary | 14 min | Director 2022 – Uma De Raffa Short Fiction | 20 min | Director 2018 – Siko Short Fiction | 18 min | Director 2016 – Nokas Feature-Length Documentary | 79 min | Director 2014 – Kabar dari Medan Short Documentary | Director 2012 – Kaos Kupang Short Documentary | Director IN DEVELOPMENT The Head Hunter Warrior