Marianna Yarovskaya

Summary

Marianna Yarovskaya is a Russian-American documentary filmmaker who is the director and producer of the 2018 Academy Award short-listed documentary film Women of the Gulag[1][2][3][4] based on the book Women of the Gulag: Stories of Five Remarkable Lives by Paul Roderick Gregory (2013).[5][6][7] She also produced Greedy Lying Bastards (2012).

Marianna Yarovskaya
Marianna Yarovskaya receiving 2001 Student Academy Award from Kathy Bates
BornDecember 1, 1971
Moscow, Russia
OccupationDocumentary filmmaker
Years active1991–present
Notable workWomen of the Gulag

Early life and education edit

Yarovskaya is the daughter of Russian actor and director Marianna Yablonskaya and a rocket scientist, Arkady Yarovsky.[8]

She first studied journalism at Moscow State University, before moving to California and studying film at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.[8]

Filmography edit

In 1998, Yarovskaya directed Undesirables (Student Academy Award, 2001).[9] Her documentary film Holy Warriors,[10][11] a study of soldiers who found religion, has played in 35 countries worldwide. In 2006, she was a head of research on An Inconvenient Truth which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. She produced feature films Greedy Lying Bastards (2012) and Pussy Riot: the Movement (2013). Yarovskaya worked in the research department on Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2001), and on award-winning feature documentaries Countdown to Zero (2010), Samsara (2012), Spirit of the Marathon II (2013), Last Days in Vietnam (2014), Vessel (2014), Merchants of Doubt (2014), Red Army (2014), Swift Current (2016), Betting on Zero (2016), Boston (2017), Blood Road (2017), "Big Lies" (2018), "Skid Row Marathon" (2019), "Oleg" (2021), and Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (2022).

Since 2000, she has also worked for Discovery Channel, National Geographic, the History Channel, Greenpeace and Netflix as Producer and Senior Editor.[12]

Yarovskaya produced Women of the Gulag with historian Paul Roderick Gregory. The film premiered at the 41st Moscow International Film Festival in 2018.[13] The film was shortlisted for an Academy Award in the "best documentary short" category.[14] It won festivals in Iceland, US/California, South Korea, Hong Kong, France, Canada, Croatia, and Russia. The film's Russian TV premiere took place in May 2021, but the film was censored.[15]

Select Filmography of Marianna Yarovskaya
S. No. Film/Documentary Year Role
1 Undesirables 1999 Director, Producer
2 An Inconvenient Truth 2007 Head of Research
3 Holy Warriors 2007 Director, Producer
4 Samsara 2011 Researcher
5 Greedy Lying Bastards 2012 Producer
6 Pussy Riot: The Movement 2013 Executive Producer
7 Women of the Gulag 2018 Director, Producer
8 Big Lies 2019 Producer
9 Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story 2021 Producer
10 How to Become a Tyrant 2022 Associate Producer
11 Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me 2022 Archive Researcher
12 Magazine Dreams 2023 Archive Researcher
13 Vishniac 2023 Archive Researcher
14 Yours in Freedom, Bill Baird 2023 Archive Producer
15 999 2024 Archive Producer

Awards and recognition edit

  1. Marianna directed and produced Undesirables, which won a Student Academy Award (Student Oscar) and a College Television Award and was screened at Cannes.
  2. An Inconvenient Truth won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
  3. She is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Bridging Cultures Through Film grant.[16]
  4. Women of the Gulag was short-listed for Academy Award Documentary Nomination in 2019.[17]
  5. Yarovskaya is the first female director from Russia short-listed for the Oscars.

References edit

  1. ^ A Look in the Mirror: A Conversation with Marianna Yarovskaya About 'Women of the Gulag' // Los Angeles Review of Books
  2. ^ Russian-American film 'Women of the GULAG' hit the short list of Oscar nominations // Echo of Moscow
  3. ^ Interview: Marianna Yarovskaya’s Short Film ‘Women Of The Gulag’ Shines A Light On Russia’s Forgotten Horrors// Close up Culture
  4. ^ "'Women of the Gulag' tells five astonishing stories of survival | KyivPost - Ukraine's Global Voice". KyivPost. January 18, 2019.
  5. ^ Women of the Gulag at the International Documentary Association
  6. ^ Haven, Cynthia (October 27, 2012). "Terror's human face: Women of the Gulag – the book and the movie". Stanford University News. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
  7. ^ Gregory, Paul. "Filmmaker previews documentary Women of the Gulag at the Hoover Institution". Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
  8. ^ a b Feldschreiber, Jared (January 18, 2019). "'Women of the Gulag' tells five astonishing stories of survival". KyivPost. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
  9. ^ Bertrand, Merle. "Undesiralbes by Marianna Yarovskaya". Film Threat Magazine. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
  10. ^ Official site, Holy Warriors. "Holy Warriors official site". Retrieved October 24, 2012.
  11. ^ United Nations Association Festival. "Holy Warriors". United Nations Association. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
  12. ^ "Marianna Yarovskaya". IMDb. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  13. ^ "На ММКФ покажут фильм "Женщины ГУЛАГа". Лента Марианны Яровской вошла в шорт-лист "Оскара" в номинации "Лучший документальный фильм"" (агенство) (ТАСС ed.). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ^ Oscars: Film Academy Narrows the List of Contenders in Nine Categories //Variety
  15. ^ Sulkin, Oleg (11 January 2019). "Фильм об узницах ГУЛАГа на российском ТВ лишили финала ", "Voice of America".
  16. ^ "NEH Funded Projects Query Form". www.neh.gov. Retrieved February 10, 2020.
  17. ^ "Marianna Yarovskaya | Wilson Center". www.wilsoncenter.org. Retrieved February 10, 2020.

External links edit

  • Marianna Yarovskaya at IMDb
  • Official website