ABOUT
MARCELLE ABELA is a Maltese-American documentary filmmaker and composer. Founding director of Avinu Films and Sergius Records, Abela's documentaries have won many international festivals and her science shorts are in the official archives of the European Space Agency. Abela's feature directorial debut Mikha'El (2021) won European Best Documentary Award at the Brittany International Film Festival, in addition to Best Director and two Outstanding Achievement Awards for Best Documentary and Best Film Score respectively at L-Age D'Or International Arthouse Film Festival.
On the musical front, Mikha'El won Best Score at the Tracks Music Awards in Los Angeles and the Award of Recognition for Original Score at the Impact DOCS Awards. It also won the Bronze Medal at the 2021 Global Music Awards in San Diego. Meanwhile, Abela's latest short film Ukraine's Soul: A Tribute to Heroes has won Best Director, three Best Documentary awards, and two Best Soundtrack awards in London, Athens, Kolkata, Busan, and Odesa. An avid reader and movie lover since childhood, Abela considers her documentaries to be influenced by the works of Ken Burns and Werner Herzog. As composer, Abela's Poème for piano solo, recorded by Steinway artist Harry Nowakowki-Fox, won the Silver Medal at the 2022 Global Music Awards in San Diego, while the orchestral composition Deep Winter won Best Music at the Tracks Music Awards in Los Angeles. Abela's first Explorations album, inspired by the coronavirus lockdowns, received an Honorable Mention at the Music Edition of the 10th People's Film Festival in Harlem. Currently, Abela is in post-production on her second feature documentary America's Woman, which is expected to be released in 2023. |