IKIGAI

Marina Waltz
Director/Producer

Drawing on her background as a curator of contemporary art, Marina makes dark, surrealistic short films which playfully explore questions around conformism and dystopia.

Marina’s first film PRIVATE WALTZ, a contemporary adaptation of the Greek myth Pygmalion, premiered at the BAFTA-qualifying Encounters Film Festival, won Best Short Film at the NYC Indie Film Awards and was nominated for The European Independent Film Award.

Her second film SUICIDE NOTE, a meditation on identity loss, premiered at the OSCAR-qualifying New Orleans Film festival, before winning the Alfred Hitchcock Award for Best Horror Film at the Chicago Arthouse Festival and being nominated for Best Music Video at the Paris Art Film Awards.

Marina’s third short QUERCUS is a psychological thriller which looks at the intersection of class, sexuality and our relationship to the environment. After its premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival (Short Film Corner) it went on to win Best Short Film at the Barcelona AR Film Festival, The European Independent Film Awards and NY Independent Film Awards.

Marina’s short film PART OF ME deals with the trauma of child loss. It premiered at the LA Femme International Film Festival, won an Excellence Award at the Women’s International Film Festival and was nominated for best short film at the Blow-Up Arthouse Film Festival.

Marina’s latest film XANADU is a satire on the linguistic tricks employed by the advertising and wellness industries to ease consumer conscience. Its world premiere was at the OSCAR-qualifying festival Show Me Shorts, its North American premiere was at OSCAR-qualifying Spark Animation in Vancouver and it has just won Best Animated Short at Flicker Rhode Island’s Vortex Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Film Festival.

Marina created a music video for Berlin-based experimental band Ackou’s single MADNESS IN A JAR. The short horror satirises the ease in which isolated individuals fall prey to conspiracy theories and disappear down information rabbit holes.

Marina has also just made a dance video which explores the relationship of an immigrant in London to the city’s brutalist architecture playfully drawing on computer game aesthetics.

Marina is part of the BAFTA 2024-2025 connect programme. She has a feature film in development with producer Keith Potter and writer Rory Mullarkey and a musical feature film in development with LGBTQ horror writer Kirsty Logan and composer Marc Teitler.