Emmy Award-winning feature filmmakers will be in the Great Hall discussing their latest project at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 20 as part of the Media Arts Department Speaker Series.

MARK DEVENDORF and DARIA MATZA have worked on dozens of documentaries and feature films. Matza is an adjunct instructor of cinema at Pierce College and has produced news segments for PBS.

Devendorf worked on “Piranha 3D” as a producer and is also a sketch comic.

The husband and wife team have been working on “Styria,” a gothic feature film for the last four years. They won an Emmy for their work on “An InAugural Ride to Freedom.”

The filmmakers will visit Pierce as part of the Pierce College Media Arts Department Speaker Series, a free program that welcomes esteemed speakers from the radio, film, journalism and website worlds.

The events are a semester-long effort funded by the Associated Students Organization. Students, faculty, staff and the community are invited. Faculty can receive Flex Credit for attending.

Refreshments will be served. Parking is available for $3 in Lot 1, near the Sheriff’s Station off Brahma Drive and Winnetka Avenue.

From Devendorf and Matza:

“MARK DEVENDORF

Mark graduated from U.C.S.C. with his bachelor’s in Film and Television. He worked for Roger Corman’s, New Horizon script department and later for the producer of 2010’s, Piranha 3D, directed by Alexandre Aja. Mark is also a sketch comic working with companies like the Groundlings and ACME Comedy Theatre.

He has made dozens of award winning films and documentaries, including Manumission, Starved, and Cassandra, which was nominated for a student Academy Award, and An Inaugural Ride to Freedom, which won an Emmy Award. Mark wrote and directed his first feature, Negative Creeps, before he received his M.A. in Film, Television, and New Media at San Diego State University. His thesis film, Setting Sun, a single-take film noir, won the school’s Best Director award.

Four years ago, Mark began writing Styria, an adaptation from a novella from the 1800s. In the true spirit of independent filmmaking he co-wrote, co-directed, and edited the film. Mark currently lives in Los Angeles where he writes, directs, and edits various projects and teaches editing and screenwriting.

DARIA MATZA

From an early age, Daria Matza has been intrigued by storytelling and images that transport us, move us, and create great change in the world. On this journey of stories Daria helped produce segments for news organizations, (MSNBC and PBS), produced independent films, and worked on major motion pictures.

With a great passion for documentary film, her directorial debut, A Capital Beat, chronicled the vibrant history and culture of Go-Go music and its social impact on the community. Since then she’s been a part of more than a dozen documentaries including, Keep on Moving, Starved, and An Inaugural Ride to Freedom, which won an Emmy Award.

For the past four years, she has been producing Styria, a gothic feature film starring Stephen Rea and Eleanor Tomlinson that was shot outside of Budapest. She has a B.S in Broadcast Journalism, Graduate Certificate in Documentary Filmmaking and Masters in Film, Television and New Media. Daria lives in Los Angeles with her daughter and filmmaking partner/husband and teaches cinema classes while pursuing various storytelling projects.”