funa maduka is a filmmaker, credited with directing and producing the first nigerian film to world premiere at the sundance film festival. she spent six years leading international original films at netflix, where she pioneered the company's move into international film production and built a development slate across europe, the middle east, asia, and africa. she shepherded the acquisition, development, and production of dozens of films, among them alfonso cuarón's roma, mati diop's atlantics, and alice rohrwacher's happy as lazzaro, and earned the company its first feature film oscar and golden globe nominations.
what she loved most from those years was development: the hours spent with a writer and a draft, the focused work of making a script ready. if she could have done only that, she would have. palmtrees is the company that lets her do exactly that. she has assembled a small team of elite story analysts with a single purpose: patient, rigorous development with the goal of moving each project to option and each writer toward a lasting career. this is where the real work begins.
funa holds degrees from cornell and harvard universities and is a member of the academy of motion picture arts and sciences.