“GENUINELY EMPOWERING. THIS IS GALVANISING, BOUNDARY-PUSHING ART AT IT'S BEST.”

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

— Charlotte Jansen,The Guardian

Out now on the Meta Quest Store

“It’s not every day you find yourself riding on a giant tampon across a blood red lagoon, on your way to fight a cyclopean octopus with your bare hands. But here you are, on a journey of self-discovery – which also involves some intense face-offs with cruel teenagers and a grilling from your mother in your bedroom (to those who have grown up with south Asian parents, a trigger warning – this character is terrifyingly accurate).

Artist-activist Poulomi Basu has made a genre-bending playable artwork/ interactive virtual reality/ immersive animated film about a menstruating superhero, Maya. It would be easy to scoff at this, but Maya: The Birth of a Superhero, co-directed by Basu’s longtime collaborator CJ Clarke, is a fun and poignant coming-of-age romp that is genuinely empowering. Part superhero satire, part psychological thriller, Maya takes the participatory genre in a bold new direction.

Whether you’ve menstruated or not, this brings you closer to what it’s like, and how it might be seen differently – as the film makes clear, menstruation is still globally stigmatised and, in many cultures, a taboo.

Basu’s previous work, Blood Speaks, managed to shift laws around menstrual exile, known as chhaupadi, practised in Nepal. While that piece took a documentary approach to show the conditions of a teenager with postpartum bleeding forced to live in a hut in exile, here Maya unites the experiences of women in the east and west, turning shame into a superpower.”

- The Guardian, 4****

An immersive story following Maya, an ordinary 21st Century girl, as she transforms into a uniquely female superhero whose powers derive from menstruation.

The story of a South Asian girls coming of age and the awakening of her sexuality. She must overcome her own shame and fear to find her inner strength and true super-powers.

With the arrival of her first period Maya’s world is turned upside down as she is confronted by the restrictive traditions of her conservative family and a world of hidden shame, stigma and taboo in contemporary London.

An odyssey of womanhood and femininity, referencing ancient symbols of spiritual and feminine power, the piece draws together the real and the imaginary to trace possible paths to resilience and justice. The Player must discover a radical power based on self love, care and solidarity.

Created and co-directed by renowned artist and women rights activist, Poulomi Basu and co-directed by CJ Clarke, MAYA: The Birth of a Superhero stars Indira Varma (Game of Thrones), Charithra Chandran (Bridgerton) and Florrie Antoniou.

For more information, please get in touch.

Produced by Just Another Production Company and Floréal in co-production with France Télévision – Francetv Storylab, in conjunction with the Meta VR for Good program.

This project was possible thanks to the support of the CNC – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée, The City of Paris and Digital Catapult/Creative XR. It was developed with the support of the Immersive Creators Catalyst established by Women in Immersive Technologies Europe (WITT) and Unity for Humanity.