Maddalena De Beni is a NYC-based cinematographer. She works in both film and stop motion animation.
Maddalena recently shot her first feature, The Woods, with noted occultist Sarah Lyons. It premiered opening night at the 2024 NYC Horror Fest and was picked up for distribution by Terror Films. You can watch it on Tubi.
She shot the short film Bad Survivor, which was an official selection of Slamdance 2025 and recently had a series of screenings at the NYC Quad Cinema. During its 2026 Oscar campaign, 7th Heaven’s Barry Watson recently signed on as EP with the intention to develop it into a television series.
Maddalena frequently collaborates with stop motion animator Erma Fiend. They worked together on the upcoming release Sarah Squirm’s Live in the Flesh on HBO and King of Drag on Revry. Their work with Revry and Vice has won them two Collision Awards.
Maddalena also works with stop motion animators Beck Underwood and Catya Plate. Most notably on their feature projects The Lure of Ponies and Alma.
Her work has screened and won awards at Woodstock Film Festival, FilmQuest, Dances with Films, SoHo International Film Festival, NYWIFT Online Shorts, Indie Memphis, Nitehawk Shorts Festival, Filmfest DC, and NoBudge.com. She’s also been published by Kill Rock Stars, Waif Magazine and Vice.
Maddalena studied under Tom Richmond(ASC) Sarah Cawley, and Valentina Caniglia (AIC) at the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema in Brooklyn.
︎
photo credit: Rowan Salhi
(scroll ︎︎︎)