BIOGRAPHY
MARY MATHESON
Mary Matheson is a pioneering virtual reality director developing groundbreaking 360 and virtual reality experiences. She directed the award-winning five-part 360 series The Female Planet for Google Daydream & YouTube VR, showcasing young female trailblazers including actress Gina Rodriguez and US Olympic athlete Ibtihaj Muhammad. Film 3, featuring NASA’s aerospace engineer Tiera Fletcher, was number six in Forbes Magazine’s 2018 top 15 YouTube VR films. The last film in the series starring Indo-American singer Vidya Vox achieved over 1.5 million views on YouTube.
A passionate advocate of VR for Good, Mary has directed VR films for Save the Children, The British Heart Foundation & Plan International. Her first 360 film Mamie’s Dream, featured a young woman struggling against forced FGM in Sierra Leone, and was selected in competition in the Alternate Realities festival at Sheffield Doc Fest 2017.
Mary is a mentor for YouTube’s VR Creator Lab London and Tokyo, and is a judge for the 2019 VR AWARDS.
Before venturing into VR, Mary spent 15 years making award-winning, high-impact commercials, campaign films and fundraisers for non-profits, with a focus on girls & women’s rights. She cut her teeth as a journalist reporting on Colombia's drug cartels and guerrilla war for the Guardian and US National Pubic Radio, and is a fluent Spanish-speaker.
VR FILMOGRAPHY
Vidya Vox - Female Planet
August 2018
Follow Indo-American YouTube star and musician Vidya Vox as she takes us on a journey back to her home in Mumbia, India. We hear about her struggle growing up as an immigrant in the US, and how her music helped her merge her two identities.
Ibtihaj Muhammad - Female Planet
July 2018
Watch the story of Ibtihaj Muhammad, Olympic bronze medalist and the first Muslim American to wear a hijab while competing for the US in the Olympics. Get a 360 degree look into Ibtihaj's career, understand why she chose fencing as her sport, how she launched her fashion brand Louella, and how she has overcome stereotypes to succeed.
Tiera Fletcher - Female Planet
February 2018
Voted number 6 in Forbes magazine's top 15 YouTube VR videos in 2018, Tiera Fletcher is a rising star in the world of aerospace engineering. Stress-testing the rocket that will land on Mars in 2020, she's one to watch for the future.
Inna Braverman - Female Planet
November 2017
At the age of 23 Inna Braverman had a dream to harness wave power to create electricity. Seven years later, hear how she set up her company Eco Wave Power, and see her first project in Gibraltar in action.
Gina Rodriguez - Female Planet
October 2017
Check out Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez in the virtual reality series The Female Planet, which features amazing female role models from around the world. Get a 360 degree look into Gina's career and passions. From inside the boxing ring to on the set of Jane the Virgin, see just how Gina is busting stereotypes in her career and in her life.
Mamie's Dream
September 2016
Filmed in Sierra Leone, Mamie’s Dream is a true story narrated by 22-year- old Mamie in her own words. We enter Mamie’s world and see what it is like for a young girl who dreams of becoming a teacher, but whose parents have other ideas for her future. Mamie fights against forced Female Genital Cutting and expectations that she will drop out of school and get married. Her fierce rejection of tradition leaves her ostracized by her family and an outcast in her community. She decides to volunteer at the local school, a decision that changes the course of her life.
