Marina Zenovich is an American filmmaker known for her biographical documentaries. Her films include ''LANCE'', '' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind'', '' Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic'' and '' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'', which won two Emmy awards.

Early life and education

Zenovich was born in

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. She is the daughter of

George N. Zenovich George Nicholas Zenovich (April 29, 1922 – September 25, 2013) was an American politician and jurist, as well as a longtime Democrat. Career Elected as Assemblyman for the 32nd District, Zenovich served in the California State Assembly from ...

, a former California State Senator and Judge of Serbian heritage, and Vera "Kika"” Zenovich, who was born in

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

, Yugoslavia. Her sister is actress Ninon Zenovich (aka Ninon Aprea). The Fifth District Court of Appeals Courthouse in Fresno is named after her father. When he died in 2013, she made a film for the memorial service to celebrate his life. Zenovich graduated from Bullard High School in Fresno, California. Zenovich first studied drama at the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

and then switched majors, graduating with a degree in journalism. During college, she worked for Hollywood producer

Mike Frankovich Mitchell John "M. J." Frankovich (September 29, 1909 – January 1, 1992), best known as Mike Frankovich, was an American football player turned film actor and producer. Frankovich was the adopted son of actor Joe E. Brown and his wife, Kathry ...

and also in the press department of the

Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, or LAOOC, also known as the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, was an informal name for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXII ...

. Following graduation, Zenovich moved to New York City, where she acted in short films and off-Broadway plays. Zenovich studied acting at the

William Esper Studio The William Esper Studio was founded in 1965 as a school for the performing arts in Manhattan, New York. The school is dedicated to the acting technique of Sanford Meisner. Its founder, William "Bill" Esper, is often referred to as the best-kno ...

in Manhattan, furthering her studies with Ron Burrus and

Stella Adler Stella Adler (February 10, 1901 – December 21, 1992) was an American actress and acting teacher.
''

Robert Altman's '' The Player'' and actress

Talia Shire Talia Rose Shire ( née Coppola; born April 25, 1946) is an American actress who played roles as Connie Corleone in ''The Godfather'' films and Adrian Balboa in the ''Rocky'' series. For her work in ''The Godfather Part II'' and ''Rocky'', Shir ...

's ''One Night Stand''. Zenovich's voiceover work includes Alex Gibney's ''Going Clear:'' ''Scientology and the Prison of Belief''. She is also the voice of a rubber band in the 2011 children's film ''Bands on the Run''. In 1997, Zenovich began working as a segment producer on John Pierson's TV series ''

Split Screen Split screen may refer to: * Split screen (computing) Split screen is a display technique in computer graphics that consists of dividing graphics and/or text into adjacent (and possibly overlapping) parts, typically as two or four rectangular ...

'', which was broadcast on the

Independent Film Channel IFC (formerly known as the Independent Film Channel) is an American basic cable channel owned by AMC Networks, originally launching in 1994 as a TV channel devoted to independent films. The Independent Film Channel originally operated as a com ...

. Due to her work on ''

'', she became interested in becoming a director and working on feature documentaries.

Career

''Independent's Day''

Shot in 1996–1997, Zenovich's first film ''Independent's Day'' premiered at the

Slamdance Film Festival The Slamdance Film Festival is an annual film festival focused on emerging artists. The annual week-long festival takes place in Park City, Utah, in late January and is the main event organized by the year-round Slamdance organization, which als ...

in 1998. The documentary was inspired by the three filmmakers who founded the aforementioned festival, after being rejected by the more established Sundance Film Festival. Zenovich's documentary explores the struggles of independent filmmakers and includes interviews with Steven Soderbergh,

Greg Mottola Gregory J. Mottola (born July 11, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter, and television director. Life and career Mottola grew up in Dix Hills, New York, in a Catholic family of Italian and Irish descent. He received his BFA in art f ...

Tom DiCillo Thomas A. DiCillo (born August 14, 1953) is an American film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. Early life He was born in Camp Le Jeune, North Carolina. His father was Italian and his mother was from New England. He studied creative wr ...

Eric Schaeffer Eric Schaeffer (born January 22, 1962) is an Americans, American actor, writer, and director. Early life and education Schaeffer was born in New York City, New York (state), New York, and later graduated with a degree in drama and dance from ...

, Sydney Pollack,

Parker Posey Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations. Posey made her film debu ...

, Roger Ebert, John Pierson, among others. While screening Independent's Day on the festival circuit, Zenovich met investor Bob Sturm who hired her to work at his new film company Catch 23 Entertainment. Zenovich started out in the development department and went on to become Senior Vice President of Film Development & Production, while continuing to make documentaries on the side.

''Who Is Bernard Tapie?''

Zenovich's next film idea came about in 1997, after a screening at the

Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merge ...

, where French filmmaker

Claude Lelouch Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch (; born 30 October 1937) is a French film director, writer, cinematographer, actor and producer. Lelouch grew up in an Algerian Jewish Family. He emerged as a prominent director in the 1960s. Lelouch gained criti ...

introduced his film ''Hommes, femmes, mode d'emploi''. Lelouche mentioned that the star of the film, Bernard Tapie, was in jail, prompting Zenovich to find out why. She spent several years going back and forth to Paris, shooting footage for ''Who Is Bernard Tapie?'' Unable to get an interview with Tapie, Zenovich filmed herself as she tried to contact the actor/businessman, hoping to get his attention. The 2001 documentary, with Steven Soderbergh as its executive producer, was aired on the

Sundance Channel Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly known as Sundance Channel (United States). * Sundance Channel (Canada) * Sundance Channel (Netherlands) * Sundance Channel (Europe) Sundance Channel can refer to: * Sundance TV, formerly kno ...

and as an episode of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

's Storyville series. Zenovich was also profiled in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' about her quest to make the documentary.

''Estonia Dreams of Eurovision!''

Zenovich also appeared on camera in her following film ''Estonia Dreams of Eurovision!'' She traveled to

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

to document the preparations leading up to hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. The 2003 film was broadcast as part of the BBC series ''Arena'' and also on the Sundance Channel. It was produced by

Vikram Jayanti Vikram Teja Jayanti is an Indian-American documentary filmmaker responsible for a number of well known full-feature documentary films. Two films he has production credits on have received Academy Awards for Best Full-Feature Documentary: he was ...

''Art in Progress'' (TV series)

In the early 2000s, Zenovich worked on the series ''Art in Progress'' for Gallery HD, an arts channel part of

Voom HD Networks Voom HD Networks is a suite of 25 original high-definition television channels owned by AMC Networks. The channels were produced in Crystal Clear Hi-Definition with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and were the largest suite of HD channels in t ...

. She traveled the world filming profiles of artists as they prepared for major exhibitions. Her episodes include: ''Tim Noble & Sue Webster: Now Here (in Athens, Greece);

Julian Schnabel Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been ...

in Naples; David Lynch in Milan; Vanessa Beecroft in Berlin; Robert Wilson: Video Portraits (in Paris);

Takashi Murakami is a Japanese contemporary artist. He works in fine arts media (such as painting and sculpture) as well as commercial (such as fashion, merchandise, and animation) and is known for blurring the line between high and low arts as well as co ae ...

(in Los Angeles); John Baldessari (in Belgium); Damien Elwes (in Santa Monica);'' and ''Sam Maloof (in Claremont)''.

''Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired''

Zenovich came up with the subject of her next documentary film, after reading a story in the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' in 2003. The article questioned whether director

Roman Polanski Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...

could re-enter the United States, if nominated for an Oscar for '' The Pianist''. Polanski had fled the U.S. in the late 1970s after being accused of sexual assault of a minor. Five years in the making, Zenovich's '' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'' premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, receiving wide media attention. The film's editor

Joe Bini Joe Bini (born Giuseppe Gaetano Bini; 1963) is an American film editor. Life Bini was born in San Mateo, California to Aurora Cerro Bini and Louis John Bini. As a film editor, he has collaborated with Werner Herzog on twenty-seven documentaries ...

won the award for Best Editing. The documentary received a Special Screening at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. Entertainment Weekly called it "A film of rare fascination and power." The film also won two Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming (shared with

& P.G. Morgan). ''Wanted and Desired'' was selected by the

National Board of Review The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered an early harbinger of the film awards season that culminat ...

as one of the Best Documentaries of 2008.

''Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out''

Soon after its release, Polanski's legal team used the film '' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'' as part of their argument for reopening the 30 year old case. Since her documentary about the film director was being used as evidence, Zenovich decided to continue shooting the story. The result was a follow-up film, ''Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out''. The second documentary was originally meant to examine how the central characters felt about the incident. Zenovich filmed Samantha Gailey and her mother in Hawaii, and also planned on meeting Polanski for an interview. However, two months before the scheduled interview, Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on his way to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the

Zurich Film Festival Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005. The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, secon ...

. As a result, Zenovich's follow-up film became linked to a big international news story. ''Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out'' debuted at the

Toronto Film Festival Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

in 2012 and subsequently played at the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, i ...

, also airing on the Showtime network.

''Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic''

Zenovich's next film, '' Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic'', was made for Showtime and executive produced by Roy Ackerman. The documentary features interviews with

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

, Mike Epps,

Bob Newhart George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began ...

, David Banks,

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

and an interview with Pryor's lawyer Skip Brittenham. Zenovich came up with the film's title during her interview with writer David Banks, who stated, "With Richard, you have to omit the logic." The documentary premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. Tribeca was f ...

in 2013 where Zenovich participated in a discussion with Tracy Morgan, Wyatt Cenac, Walter Mosley and Jennifer Pryor. The panel was moderated by writer Jacob Bernstein. '' Omit the Logic'' won the NAACP Image Award for Best Television Documentary. The film's editor Chris A. Peterson was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Editing.

''Fantastic Lies''

In 2014, Zenovich addressed another controversial story, the 2006 Duke Lacrosse scandal. The resulting film, ''Fantastic Lies'', was aired on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's '' 30 for 30'' series and earned positive reviews. The documentary premiered at

SXSW Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

in 2016, also receiving nominations for Best Sports Documentary and Best TV/Streaming Documentary at the Critics Choice Awards.

''Water & Power: A California Heist''

In 2016 Zenovich took on the California water crisis. Her documentary ''Water & Power: A California Heist'' premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and was nominated for the Grand Jury prize. The film also played in theaters and aired on the National Geographic channel.

''Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind''

In 2018, Zenovich returned to Sundance for the third time with her HBO feature documentary, '' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind''. The film played six sell-out screenings and received positive reviews. It was also screened at the Nantucket Film Festival and had a first HBO broadcast on July 16, 2018. That same summer, the documentary was shown at the Hamptons International Film Festival SummerDocs, accompanied by a discussion with Zenovich and Q&A host Alec Baldwin.

Variety Magazine ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

described the film as being "sharp-edged, humane, and deeply researched enough to take you closer to the manic engine of Williams’ brilliance and pain". The documentary celebrates the life and career of comedian

who died in 2014. Zenovich recorded interviews with

, David Letterman,

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...

, among others. She also included outtakes and little known clips from Williams' stand-up routines, after sifting through a large amount of archival footage. Describing the process as laborious yet amazing, Zenovich stated that, "Anytime you make a movie, no matter how many you’ve made, it’s like you’re doing it for the first time."

''LANCE''

In 2020 Marina Zenovich once again returned to Sundance with her two-part film ''LANCE'' for ESPN.

Memberships

Zenovich is an active member of the

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

, The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the

, and the International Documentary Association.

Awards and nominations

For '' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'', Zenovich won two Emmys for writing and directing for non-fiction programming. She also garnered one nomination for producing. At the Sundance Film Festival, the documentary was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize and won an award for film editing. 2017 – Sundance Film Festival ''Water & Power: A California Heist'' 2016 – SXSW Film Festival SXSW Gamechanger Award Nominee ''Fantastic Lies'' 2016 – Critics Choice Award Best Documentary Feature (TV/Streaming), Best Sports Documentary ''Fantastic Lies'' 2013 – NAACP Image Award Best Documentary ''Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic'' 2009 – Emmy Winner Writing for Non-Fiction Programming, Directing '' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'' 2009 – Emmy Nominee Non-Fiction Special '' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'' 2008 – Sundance Film Festival Documentary Film Editing Award ''Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'' 2008 – Libertas Film Festival (Dubrovnik, Croatia) Best Documentary Film ''Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired''

Festivals

Sundance Film Festival '' LANCE Sundance Film Festival '' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind; Water & Power: A California Heist; Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'' Hamptons International Film Festival’s SummerDoc series: '' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind'' Munich International Film Festival '' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind'' Karlovy Vary International Film Festival '' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind'' Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival: '' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind''

Provincetown International Film Festival The Provincetown International Film Festival (PIFF) is an annual film festival founded in 1999 and held on Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The festival presents American and international narrative features, documentaries and short films f ...

'' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind'' Nantucket Film Festival '' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind''

'' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired''

''Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out''

'' Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic''

''Independent's Day, Fantastic Lies''

''Independent's Day''

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

''Who Is Bernard Tapie?''
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
''Independent's Day''
IDFA
''Independent's Day, Who Is Bernard Tapie?; Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic''
Sheffield International Film Festival
'' Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic''
Deauville Film Festival
''Who Is Bernard Tapie?, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired''
Torino Film Festival
'' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired''
Edinburgh Film Festival
'' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired''
Zurich Film Festival
'' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired; Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out''
Melbourne International Film Festival
'' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired''
Oldenburg Film Festival
''Who Is Bernard Tapie?''
Libertas Film Festival
'' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired''

Filmography

*1997 – ''Independent's Day'' *2001 – ''Who Is Bernard Tapie?'' *2003 – ''Estonia Dreams of Eurovision!'' *Early 2000s – ''Art in Progress'' (TV series) *2008 – '' Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired'' *2012 – ''Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out'' *2013 – '' Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic'' *2014 – ''Fantastic Lies'' *2016 – ''Water & Power: A California Heist'' *2018 – '' Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind'' *2020 – ''LANCE'' *2021 - '' The Way Down''

Personal

Zenovich is married to the British writer and producer P.G. Morgan. They have one son.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zenovich, Marina USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism alumni People from Fresno, California American people of Serbian descent Living people American documentary film directors Film directors from California American women documentary filmmakers Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women