Marina Zenovich
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“The First Assembly Had Two Major Editing Flaws”: Editors Greg Finton & Poppy Das on Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
Perhaps best known for her biographical documentaries (including two on Roman Polanski and one on Richard Pryor), Marina Zenovich’s latest film Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind is an intimate look at the late comic and actor. Set to air later this year on HBO, the film draws upon a vast assembly of archival materials, many previously unknown to the public, to cover Williams’s extensive career. Editors Greg Finton and Poppy Das discuss the challenges of crafting a portrait that focused on the comedy rather than the tragedy of Williams’s life. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 1, 2018 -
“The Art of Silently Weeping While Pulling Focus at the Same Time”: DP Nick Higgins on Shooting Robin Williams: Come Inside My Head?
Following Water & Power: A California Heist in 2017 and Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired in 2008, Marina Zenovich returns to Sundance for a third time with Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind, her documentary on the late comedic maestro. Documentary DP Nick Higgins served as one of four cinematographers on the project. Higgins was the sole DP on O.J.: Made in America and has more than 50 cinematography credits to his name. Below, he shares his thoughts on lighting documentary subjects and why he prefers to shoot interviews with a single camera. Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind screens four times at Sundance 2018. Filmmaker: […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 18, 2018 -
“How Do You Show Something That Isn’t There?”: DP Sam Painter on Water & Power: A California Heist
The story of California is indelibly tied to water. Marina Zenovich, the director of well-received docs on Roman Polanski (Wanted and Desired) and Richard Pryor (Omit the Logic), explores this relationship in Water & Power: A California Heist, which screened in competition this week at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Her film investigates the state’s ongoing water crisis with an emphasis on Chinatown-esque corruption. Zenovich tapped DP Sam Painter (Going Clear) as one of two cinematographers for the film. Painter spoke with Filmmaker ahead of Water & Power‘s premiere about the film’s blend of hand held footage, dramatically lit interviews and drone imagery. Filmmaker: […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2017 -
Tribeca 2013 Critic’s Notebook #2: Black (Out)Rage
So I’ll get right to it — the only truly great film I’ve seen at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival is Jason Osder’s searing Let the Fire Burn. A found-footage marvel with no narration and sparse title cards, it dives into the maelstrom that was the Philadelphia police’s tragic raid on the black separatist group MOVE’s West Philadelphia compound in 1985, during which the home, where 13 men, women and children lived, was fired upon 10,000 times, doused with unspeakable amounts of water and then finally firebombed, an event which led to nearly 70 other homes in the surrounding working […]
by Brandon Harris on Apr 26, 2013 -
NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES SIDEBAR PROGRAMS
Following on from the announcement of its main slate, the New York Film Festival has unveiled the event’s sidebar programs, which includes a sneak preview of three episodes of Oliver Stone’s forthcoming Showtime series Untold History of the United States. For me, the most exciting strand of those just announced is Cinema Reflected, which has such titles as Room 237, Rodney Ascher’s obsessional examination of Kubrick’s The Shining; Marina Zenovich’s follow-up doc Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out; a bizarre concoction by Taxidermia director György Pàlfi called Final Cut — Ladies and Gentlemen which proclaims to be scenes from 450 of […]
by Nick Dawson on Aug 21, 2012 -
“ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED” co-writer-director, Marina Zenovich
I wish I’d had a 10 percent better understanding and insight into the case when I started the movie. I say that because this has been the most complicated and difficult film I’ve ever made. The story was legally complex and took place 30 years ago. I am not a lawyer. Although my father was a politician and a judge, I do not know the inner workings of the DA’s office or how lawyers and judges behave or bargain with one another. What’s more, there were only a limited number of people I could talk to. These people were not […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jan 16, 2008
