Marjan Safinia
Marjan Safinia is an Iranian documentary filmmaker whose films examine identity, community and social justice. Together with Grace Lee, she produced and directed AND SHE COULD BE NEXT, a two-part documentary series about women of color transforming American politics from the ground up, which debuted as POV’s first ever series in June 2020. SEEDS, tells the story of ten brave teenagers from the world’s most troubled conflict zones living side-by-side for one life-changing summer. BUT YOU SPEAK SUCH GOOD ENGLISH explores the first-generation immigrant experience from an insider perspective. Collectively her films have played at over 100 international film festivals and been broadcast in North America, Europe and across the Arab world. She has produced and directed work for Google Founder Sergey Brin, the Obama administration, and Hillary Clinton’s Next Generation. Her work has been supported by IDA Enterprise Fund, Ford Foundation, MacArthur and Sundance Institute, Doc Society, and she is also Sundance Catalyst Fellow. Until 2018, Marjan was the longest-serving President of the Board of Directors of the International Documentary Association (and the first woman of color to lead this organization since it was founded in 1982.) She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Chicken & Egg Pictures. She co-hosts the longest-running online documentary community, The D-Word, and is a regular juror, programmer, speaker and connector of all things documentary. She is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Documentary Branch.
Sessions in which Marjan Safinia attends
Cinerama Dome - Theater
Keynote
Chi-hui Yang, Ford Foundation (Participant)
The Montalbán - Theatre
Game Show
Brian Babylon, Babylon Industries (Participant)
Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study - Linwood Dunn Theater
Keynote
Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study - Linwood Dunn Theater
Performance
Dale Cohen, UCLA School of Law (Participant)
Dana Merwin, International Documentary Association (Moderator)
Simon Kilmurry, International Documentary Association (Participant)
Katie Townsend, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (Participant)
James Wheaton, first amendment project/uc berkeley/stanford (Participant)
Marco Williams, Hiptruth Productions (Participant)
ArcLight Hollywood - Theater 10
Panel
Locsi Ferra, Level Forward (Participant)
Sonya Childress, Firelight Media (Moderator)
Maori Holmes, BlackStar Film Festival (Participant)
Katie Mota, Wise Entertainment (Participant)
Deana Nassar, Arab Film and Media Institute (Participant)
ArcLight Hollywood - Theater 8
Presentation
Steven Beer, Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell & Vassallo, P.C. (Participant)
Steve Holmgren (Participant)
Fred Siegel, Fred Siegel CPA (Participant)
LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions) - Gallery
Convening
Simon Kilmurry, International Documentary Association (Participant)
ArcLight Hollywood - Theater 10
Panel
Alexandra Johnes, *Very Special Projects / Eaton Workshop (Moderator)
Justine Nagan, American Documentary / POV & America ReFramed (Participant)
Brenda Robinson, Gamechanger Films (Participant)
Josh Penn, The Department of Motion Pictures (Participant)
ArcLight Hollywood - Theater 10
Panel
Debra Zimmerman, Women Make Movies (Moderator)
David Eisenberg, ITVS (Participant)
Beth Levison, Doc Producers Alliance (Participant)
Tabitha Jackson, Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program (Participant)
Gordon Quinn, Kartemquin Films (Participant)
Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study - Linwood Dunn Theater
Claire Aguilar, International Documentary Associati (Participant)
Simon Kilmurry, International Documentary Association (Participant)