
FOOTSTEPS ON THE WIND
Prod. USA/UK/Brazil. Footsteps on the Wind follows the plight of Noor and her little brother, Josef as they journey far away from home, orphaned from a devastating earthquake.
DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Maya Sanbar is an Artist and Filmmaker. Her work in both moving image and installation is centered on the art of storytelling. Footsteps on the Wind is her directorial debut in the narrative and animation world.
Her experience is varied, her artworks being often collaborative and enabling of others adding their voices to a central theme. In relation to this film, aside from her own family refugee history, she sought out the depth of emotional truth within refugee stories via therapy workshops, ensuring that this is a film about refugees, told by refugees, for refugees and the general public young and old.
As a multimedia artist, her work has been exhibited internationally, notably installations at Shoreditch Town Hall in London “Waiting” 2015, the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City “Alex in Wonderland” scented experience (2016), and at the Berlin Wall on the 30th anniversary of its fall “Chasing the Light” (2019), “Words on the Hill” at the Coronet Theatre in London (2020). Her film production credits include 360 immersion visits to artist studios and documentaries.
Sanbar is fluent in 6 languages and passionate about crossing cultural boundaries using words with images to bring about a fresh point of view.
Gustavo Leal. A publicist from Varginha – Minas Gerais, worked as an art director in some of the most important advertising agencies in Brazil such as DM9DDB and Wunderman for global brands like Microsoft, Intel, and Chevrolet. In 2013, his passion for storytelling, design, and illustration spoke louder and he decided to open Dirty Work, a film production company.
Faga Melo. Filmmaker and motion graphics artist, born in São Gonçalo – Rio de Janeiro, studied Cinema in São Paulo and Los Angeles, has worked between the production of advertising films, content for Cinema, TV, and stages such as Rod Stewart
World Tour and Paralympic Games.
In 2016, Gustavo and Faga started to work as a Duo and were immediately able to put into practice the combination of their singular taste for things in every opportunity. They are driven by a collaborative and horizontal way of work that aims at the contribution of all the people involved in the production, besides, of course, the endless seek of the most original possible
way to tell a good story.
Passionate about illustration, photography, cinema, and animation, Leal and Faga are always looking for new experiments and techniques to evolve in each project they direct. Their distinctive formations and self-taught spirits enable the Duo to dive into different languages and techniques of the animation world. 2D, Traditional, 3D, Stop-motion, and Live Action with animation. As a result, today they own an authentic language, which has been gaining more and more space in the national and international market ahead of Dirty Work’s creative direction.