When did you realize you wanted to work in film?
As an embryo.
Just kidding; more as a young child watching my mother and father enjoy European directors and realizing from my mum, Basia Palka’s photographs of me that there was a love between the lens and the eye of the person being photographed. That was something that I first understood defined as my mother’s love for me, which later I saw repeated in great cinema across time and across the globe. The fascination I had/have all started via the loving gaze of my mum’s own artistry at work when she loaded her camera, or looked at us through the lens or the way she used depth of field and focus. Every time she’d get her 36 pictures back, we’d talk about which images where good and why -and it wasn’t clinical. It was never cerebral, she was always talking in feelings and talking in forms of light. She taught me how to be an artist, she taught me how to listen and how much courage it takes to take every single photograph, to make every single film. She used our love as a family to make her art and everything I am is because of that.
What gave you the courage or influence to move from Scotland to New York and pursue a career in the arts?
My mother and grandmother both travelled a great deal and as a child we went on a huge number of vacations to remote places, me, my sister Nina and my parents. We were gifted from my father a sort of “Buy the airplane ticket and figure out where you’ll stay when you get there,” mentality that landed us on a beach in a shack as much as it landed us in a fancy hotel with ocean views. And my mother’s mother (my Polish “Babcia”, Bronia Jakubski) left Poland for Scotland as a young woman and seemed not to even blink about how brave she has been in her life. We’ve always said in my family that “Yes, wherever you go, you’ll be looked after, because: no doubt there will be people there.” That’s what happened to me when I moved to NY at 17. I trusted the world and the world trusted me back.
Do you have a favorite style of film-making that you enjoy creating the most (short films, documentaries, full features, etc)?
Yes. Feature Films. Those were the first level of story telling for me, after my Babcia’s oratory manner of communicating tales of how I and my sister escaped Baba Jaga by way of a swan, giving us a ride on its back as we flew through the sky. She would tell us that the stories where real. My Babcia opened my imagination and so when I started watching films I recognized the visuals from my own psyche already placed there by my grandmother. Like presents but presents of the imagination. Great gifts. She leads by example, there’s a lot of vast women in my family who all lead by example. And they all love feature film.
Is film-making your true creative passion? If not, what would completely fill your creative pallet?
Filmmaking and cooking for friends and loved ones, looking after those I love like my boyfriend is my creative passion, yes. Like I get a depth of satisfaction every time we make food and eat together. I feel a sense of life and love and family and work all happening at once the way it has done all my life. I love the sweat of shooting a film and running to meet my boyfriend Zac afterwards. It actually feels like stepping in and out of the story. I feel that my life is a playful mix of these sweepingly vast lands. I love to weave a story via a script and sew in some transitions and knit some visual themes, I love every aspect of film making as much as I love to use the films I make to help a community of people and an ethos, which heals the world. I would like to complete my pallet by becoming a mother. In the same way as acting, writing and directing and producing all feed into one another I see parenthood as a logical next step in terms of becoming a better artist. I want to always be exploring ways to become a better member of the wild human family and I see what my mother did in her sparking an inspiration in me to have a joy for life everyday and let that make your art for you, a glorious triumph. Being a parent and a director are easy livelihoods to link into each other. I have a dream of having infant and child nursery be compulsory on all sets so we can all bring our children and see them fired up as they can see us working, in our element and doing it for and with them.
Who is your biggest inspiration?
Tara Palka, my niece.
What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve received or life lesson you’ve learned?
“Kind” When, as a 16 year old friend of his, I asked how he is on set, Peter Mullan, told me that. He may have said in addition to that something like, “Just don’t be an asshole, be nice to everyone.” And I am. I see kindness as a way to get great performances from the cast and the crew. I know everyone’s name and I see each person’s job as just as important as each other person’s job. You must look at other human beings and treat them as you would treat your own darling. Because everyone is your dearest dear. Each person on set is there for the same reason. We’re all changing the world through story telling and I believe it’s more vital than anything else we have. Stories are who we are and they are how we learn to be good and how we learn to grow in the best sense. Film is a large part of that.
How did you meet Bryce?
Oh. My memory? Let’s see. Technically and in this life time in New York at Sam Waterston’s apt in Manhattan. Katherine and Elisabeth Waterston invited us all over and I remember we ate tofu and it felt like miracles. New York for me was filled with miracles. I felt an instant understanding with Bryce. It felt like we were all very powerful young women and we had a lot of goodness ahead of us, behind us and all around us. Which was true. We really did change things forever and we really are changing more things for the better. Those two ladies are just my favs. My favs!!! Bryce has been there for me in ways that no other friend has and I will always love her unconditionally, hilariously and completely.
Do you have a memorable and/or funny Bryce story you can share?
So many. Oh. I must pick one. Ok, when we were doing When You Find Me (She directed me in her first film Orchids, I had directed her in my first film Good Dick) When You Find Me was her second film and in it I was an ethereal angel mother, the Great Mother herself if you like to see it that way, which, I do. And Bryce was pregnant with her 2nd child (the sweet B) and she came up to me when I was in my trailer or the make up trailer and she said, “Marianna, you’re my friend, tell me if you can see my sweat mark on my clothes.” And I was like, “No, Bryce! You can’t see it.” And she was like, “Marianna, everyone can see it!!” And I was like, “No, Bryce no one can see it.”
And she was like, “Everyone can see it!!!!” And I was like, “Bryce, no, no one can see it because no one cares about your sweat mark right now, they care about you as a director. They’re all focused on their job and the details of what you want them to do.” I thought it was funny, but I also found Bryce to be another level of a miracle leader on that set. She was pregnant and you literally would never have known if you didn’t know she was pregnant. I was so proud of her, it felt like she was blazing a trail. Setting an example and letting any doubters know that she was a stronger director, as a pregnant version of herself. No one doubted her. Bryce pregnant and directing was the single most focusing part of knowing her. It meant any of us could do anything. She just nailed it. Bryce and I are equal in our ethicals, we naturally enjoy being extra prepared for our jobs and we take pride in being as professional as possible. She’s got such a fab mind and I can always count on her to have a big dream come true thought. She’s been a guiding light and a force of nature. She’s such an amazing woman, friend, artist, genius, voice of our time.
Is there anything you’re currently working on that you can talk about?
By the end of this year I’ll have directed 4 feature films and been in 23 films in an 18 month period as well as being in Girls TV show season 5, and our Oscar Shortlisted doc “Lions Mouth Opens” being on HBO as well. And I just played Emily in “A Rose for Emily” opposite James Franco which is my fav Faulkner story because it is so feminist! My feature film “I’m the Same” is in post production and I’m also working on my dog Magic’s precious life. I’m into making his life good, currently. Also, my 2nd feature film “Always Worthy” is available to buy on iTunes right now.
How would you define success?
Self love… and kissing Zac Clark.
Two questions submitted by Marie at @BryceHowardFR…
What were your beginnings as a director like? Do you have any advice for those who want to become a director?
Watch great films, listen, laugh when actors do something fully, think of one thing the scene is actually about that’s not on the page and add that to what you’re doing, give and take compliments fully, read Maya Angelou and use justified camera movement; and say we instead of I.
Do you have one specific memory from something that’s happened on a movie set that really marked you?
Every day on a set makes its own gorgeous mark on us. I include all
the marks I’ve been granted on set here and I’m grateful for them. Mostly the quality of listening is something I love and it changes me every time I tap into it. Being given the full reign to make one’s vision so exact is such a pleasure. Directing is only confidence mixed with laughs. I think understanding how laughter and rapport on set really are what make the movie happen has been a big mark on me. I like to keep it all very light hearted and deeply elegant. Just trying to do well and make my mama proud. Hi Basia, I love you.
Two questions submitted by Dani at @brycedhowardfan…
Is it hard to be a woman in the industry? Like, how is it to be a woman director?
I see myself as a filmmaker not a female filmmaker, the same as a male director wouldn’t need to talk about being male, I don’t need to talk about being female. It’s like talking about being a brunette director verses being a blonde director. These are arbitrary factors. Thank you for the question.
What do you think is the most beautiful and important attribute a filmmaker has?
The scope of their vision. Thank you for the question.
RAPID FIRE!
What is your favorite…
Color?
Zac’s beard color it’s a golden brown black blonde color.
Number?
8
Animal?
Dog!
Ice cream flavor?
Naked Coconut ice cream with no sugar!
City?
Athens, but only because it’s so close to the mysticism of the Aegan Sea.