Maiki (pronounced ‘Mikey’) Kayo is a bilingual Japanese American writer-director and editor raised in Honolulu and Tokyo, currently based in NYC. Her films explore the untraditional forms 'connection' can take, especially as it intersects with culture, the body, family, womanhood, spirituality, and nature. She works in narrative, documentary, and non-narrative spaces.
Maiki holds an MFA in Film Production with a focus in Directing from Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. She is currently a production intern for HIKARI (Rental Family, Beef), as well as a freelance director, writer, editor, and screen actor for various independent projects. Her most recent narrative short and graduate thesis, Dokomademo (To Anywhere) (2025), is having its world premiere at the Academy Award-qualifying festival, Hawaiʻi International Film Festival this October 2026.
Maiki is particularly passionate about supporting women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, student, and non-profit creatives and causes. Some avenues of storytelling she's currently interested in are documentary, dance/movement, non-narrative film, digital media, and music video.
Outside of film, Maiki has a background in Cultural Studies, Film Studies, and East Asian Cultural Studies through a BA from McGill University, from which she still draws much of her creative inspiration. She also has professional experience in project management, teaching, event planning, and Japanese/English interpretation. In her free time, Maiki loves to cook, read, enjoy parks, find the best mom and pop shops in town, and spend time with her loved ones.
Favorites of all time:
Aftersun by Charlotte Wells
Yi Yi by Edward Yang, anything Trixie and Katya, Lady Bird by Greta Gerwig
Currently reading:
“Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer
「キッチン」吉本ばなな/著