Brenda Malley, an alumna of the University of New Brunswick (BA’82) and University of Ottawa (MCA ’84), has been writing, directing and producing screenplays since 2016. Having retired in 2017 from the New Brunswick Department of Justice and Public Safety as a Policy and Program Advisor for 33 years, her background in human behaviour and Justice afforded her the fodder she needed to portray on-screen many issues facing society. These issues include sexism in the military, unrequited love based on religious differences, dating digitally by baby boomers, male misogyny in the workforce, and undiagnosed Adult Autism. In addition, she co-produced and directed a music video for Robert Thomas and the Session Men (The Way We Roll, 2024). All these short narratives, one feature film, and a music video have been selected and garnered awards at numerous film festivals in Canada and abroad. Brenda has been a member of the jury at the International Film Festival The Hague since 2023, and in 2025 joined the jury for the Aravali International Film Festival.

Brenda is currently in pre-production for a short period piece that she is co-producing and directing. It goes to principal photography in February 2026. Her documentary, The Escuminac Disaster: Beneath the Surface is presently in postproduction. This documentary focuses on post-war New Brunswick as understood through the 1959 Escuminac Disaster. Thirty-five fishermen from a small region of New Brunswick, Canada, perished in the worst storm at sea in the province for more than a century.