Havana Marking | |
---|---|
Born | |
Occupation(s) | Director, Producer |
Years active | 2005–present |
Havana Marking is a British producer and director of documentary films. She is known for her first feature documentary in 2009 Afghan Star . This film won Best Director and the Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. [1]
Marking was born in England and moved to the United States as a child. Her father, Giles Marking, is a designer in London and he was an Architecture professor at the University of Washington. Stacy Marking (13 November 1939; died 2 October 2023), her mother, was a journalist, writer and businessmwoman and was one of the first female television directors in the UK. [2] She now [ when? ] lives in London & Dorset with her daughter, Celia.
As co-director of Roast Beef Productions, Marking oversaw the development and production of a number of documentaries resulting in two Academy Award Nominations, seven Sundance Awards, and four EMMYs. By “growing up” in the world of TV, Roast Beef was able to leverage the medium’s popular sensibility and successfully apply it to the world of features. Films include: Afghan Star, Hell and Back Again, Smash & Grab, The Square, Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer and Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Cyber Attacks.[ citation needed ]
Marking has directed films for HBO (Silencing the Song), More4 (Vote Afghanistan!) and the BBC (Secret History of the Family). Her part-animated feature, Smash & Grab: the Story of the Pink Panthers, about Balkan diamond thieves Storyville, had a wide cinematic release in the US and was optioned by Danny Boyle (Currently on Amazon Prime). Her last feature, The Kleptocrats, aired on Starz and can be viewed in Itunes.
Marking was Executive Producer on numerous films, notably Hell and Back Again (directed by Danfung Dennis), nominated for a 2012 Academy Award, and Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer .
Finally her articles and photographs have been published in The Guardian, The Observer and The Telegraph.
The film follows a season of the Afghan TV phenomenon, based on the X-Factor / American Idol. Marking lived in Kabul for five months and focused on four main contestants in the series. The film changed pitch at the moment that Setara Hussainzada (a young woman from Herat) danced during her final performance. This led to death threats, condemnation and the possibility that the show itself might be stopped. The film won The Grierson award for ‘best doc on a contemporary issue’, and the Prix Italia.[ citation needed ]
Year | Film | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | What Would Jesus Drive? | Producer | |
The F Word | Producer | ||
The Great Relativity Show | |||
2007 | The Crippendales | ||
2009 | Afghan Star | Winner, Best Director and Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival [1] | |
2013 | Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer | ||
2014 | Smash & Grab | Director [3] | |
2016 | Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies and Cyberattacks | ||
2016 | The Secret History of My Family | ||
2018 | The Kleptocrats | ||
Pussy is a term used as a noun, an adjective, and—in rare instances—a verb in the English language. It has several meanings, as slang, as euphemism, and as vulgarity. Most commonly, it is used as a noun with the meaning "cat", "coward", or "weakling". In slang usage, it can mean "vulva or vagina" and less commonly, as a form of synecdoche, meaning "sexual intercourse with a woman". Because of its multiple senses including both innocent and vulgar connotations, pussy is often the subject of double entendre.
The Pink Panthers are an international jewel thief network responsible for a number of robberies and thefts described as some of the most audacious in the history of organized crime. The organization has roughly 800 core members, many of whom are ex-soldiers with extensive military and paramilitary backgrounds. Both women and men play an equal part in the structure of the organization. The organization's membership mostly consists of Serbian and Montenegrin citizens, who are believed to be Bosnian War veterans making use of their military experience for criminal activity. The organization was named by Interpol after The Pink Panther series of crime comedy films.
Nanette Burstein is an American film and television director. Burstein has produced, directed, and co-directed several documentaries including the Academy Award nominated and Sundance Special Jury Prize winning film On the Ropes.
The 2009 Sundance Film Festival was held during January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival.
Afghan Star is a 2009 British documentary film following four contestants in the Afghan music competition Afghan Star. Afghan Star was directed by Havana Marking and is distributed by Zeitgeist Films. The film was acclaimed by critics.
Karol Martesko-Fenster is an American media executive.
Mike Lerner is a film director and producer. He has directed Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (2013), and Klarsfeld (2022). He has produced multiple documentary films and series including Hell and Back Again (2011), Rafea: Solar Mama (2012), The Square (2013), The Departure (2017), The Great Hack (2019), The Kleptocrats (2018), The Vow (2020–22), The Meaning of Hitler (2020), F*ck this Job (2021), Flight/Risk (2022), and Defiant (2023).
Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in the fall of 2011 by 22 year old Nadya Tolokonnikova, it has had a membership of approximately 11 women. The group staged unauthorized, provocative guerrilla gigs in public places. These performances were filmed as music videos and posted on the internet. The group's lyrical themes included feminism, LGBT rights, opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his policies, and Putin's links to the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Nadezhda Andreyevna "Nadya" Tolokonnikova is a Russian musician, conceptual artist, and political activist. She is a founding member of the feminist group Pussy Riot, and has a history of political activism with the street art group Voina.
Maria "Masha" Vladimirovna Alyokhina is a Russian political activist. She is a member of the anti-Putinist punk rock group Pussy Riot.
Storyville is a documentary strand presented by the BBC featuring international documentaries. It first aired on 15 November 1997. It has been part of BBC Film since 2020.
Simon Russell is a British composer for TV and film.
The 2013 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 17, 2013, until January 27, 2013, in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ogden, Utah, and Sundance, Utah.
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer is a 2013 documentary film by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin. The film follows the court cases on the Russian feminist/anti-Putinist punk-rock protest group Pussy Riot. Directed by Lerner and Pozdorovkin, the film featured publicly available footage of the court proceedings and interviews with the families of the band members, but no interviews with the band members themselves.
Daniel Vivian is a British actor of Serbian origin. He works internationally.
Smash & Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers is a 2013 documentary by Havana Marking based upon the international jewel thief network called the Pink Panthers. The film had a limited release on 31 July 2013 and had a wider release in the United Kingdom on September 27, 2013. It was pitched at the 2010 Sheffield Doc/Fest MeetMarket prior to completion.
Maxim Pozdorovkin is a Russian-American filmmaker based in New York. He is the director of The Truth About Killer Robots, an HBO documentary that premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. The Truth About Killer Robots was described by The Guardian as "the year's most terrifying documentary". His film Our New President premiered at Sundance 2018 where it won a Special Jury Award. Variety also listed it as one of the ten best films from the festival. Pozdorovkin's other films include: Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer, The Notorious Mr. Bout, Clinica de Migrantes (HBO). Upcoming feature documentary How to Rob Banks For Dummies is currently in post-production.
Pussy versus Putin is a 2013 Russian documentary film by the film collective Gogol's Wives chronicling the history of the group Pussy Riot and their struggle with the political regime in Russia. The film received the NTR IDFA Award for Best Mid-Length Documentary at the 2013 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.
Amy Scholder is an American literary editor and documentary filmmaker known for amplifying the stories of marginalized writers, artists, musicians, and activists.
Nicholas Quested is a British filmmaker and producer of documentary films, music videos, and TV commercials. He is the executive director and owner of Goldcrest Films.