Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Content Creator

Martin Vavra has amassed a treasure trove of credits that span all areas of production including director, screenwriter, producer and editor. His films have garnered a long list of awards for “best of” at festivals from around the world including Breckenridge Film Festival, B&B Horror Film Festival, Yonkers Film Festival, Woodstock Film Festival, Tokyo Lift Off and DocVille International. Add to that his Rising Star Award from the Oregon Governor’s Office of Film and Television and you have a well rounded filmmaker who can hit the ground running on all fronts. 

The horror comedy Benehooy is the most recent film to be on the festival circuit. Premiering in LA, the film has been seen in festivals all over the country and won awards for writing and creature effects. Notably, the film was featured in Times Square as part of the Shockfest Film Festival, as well as playing YoFiFest (Yonkers) and the Dumbo Film Festival (Brooklyn). Martin recently completed the film Lament, which joins Unwelcome Guests as dramas set against the backdrop of social stigmas, builds on his love of characters and setting. Voices of April, part of the Haunting of Sunshine Girl network, has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of fans and created a following world wide. From The Gutters and The Last Stand series are distributed across the world with millions of views.

As a director, Martin Vavra’s work is in high demand with no end in sight. He’s created content for global branding across multiple mediums covering sports, outdoors and technology. His commercials have won awards for direction, cinematography, editing and visual effects. Martin’s directing and producing attract brands such as Nike, Microsoft, Intel and Patagonia. Martin has also worked alongside television series directors Norberto Barba and David Grossman on multiple episodes of the NBC series Grimm.

While primarily working as a director, Martin’s skills are also sought out as a producer and editor on films. National Geographic tapped him to edit the film Lost Temple of the Inca. For PBS, he produced and edited the films Broken Places and Ready To Run. Hail to the King: 60 Years of Destruction, a documentary he produced and edited about the Godzilla legacy in Japan, has been distributed in six countries and translated into four languages.

As owner and CEO of Galaxy Sailor Productions Martin is also one of the original founders for special effects company, The Refuge VFX. 

Before achieving success in filmmaking and content creation, he spent 15 seasons as an Oregon wildland firefighter with a degree in wildlife management and arid land biomes. After years of forest fires and chasing elk, taught science classes at local high schools giving purpose to his Masters in Education. Currently, he continues to share his knowledge with ongoing classes for film production, directing and editing at his website.  

Martin is currently developing several feature films with his creative team.