Marilyn Ness is a two-time Emmy, Peabody, and DuPont Award-winning filmmaker and works as a director and producer. Most recently, she produced?Anonymous Sister?(dir. Jamie Boyle), about one family’s fall into opioid addiction. Before that, she produced the Netflix Original documentaries?Becoming?(dir. Nadia Hallgren), about former First Lady Michelle Obama, which was nominated for four Primetime Emmy Awards as well as?Dick Johnson is Dead?(dir. Kirsten Johnson), which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and won the Special Jury Award for Innovation in Non-fiction Storytelling, was nominated for a PGA Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and later earned 3 Primetime Emmy? nominations, winning one. Marilyn directed the Emmy?-nominated documentary?Charm City,?which premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and was shortlisted for the 2019 Academy Award? - Best Documentary Feature. The film was broadcast on PBS' Independent Lens in April 2019. Before that, she produced?Cameraperson?(dir. Kirsten Johnson), which premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, was released by the Criterion Collection and was shortlisted for the 2017 Academy Awards? - Best Documentary Feature. Trapped?(dir. Dawn Porter), about the struggle to maintain access to abortion in the South, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, received the Jury Prize for Social Impact Filmmaking, broadcast on PBS' Independent Lens, and was awarded a Peabody. She also produced Katy Chevigny and Ross Kauffman’s feature documentary,?E-Team, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2014 and was bought by Netflix Original, and later earned two Emmy nominations. She directed the documentary feature film?Bad Blood: A Cautionary Tale,?that broadcast nationally on PBS in 2011. She is currently at work on a multi-disciplinary theater and documentary project entitled?Postmortem?Ness is a partner in Big Mouth Productions, a women-owned, women-led award-winning documentary film and theater production company. Marilyn is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the Television Academy, the Producer’s Guild of America, and the International Documentary Association. She lives in New York City with her husband and two sons.
News
FilmColumbia Filmmakers Shine in 2021 Emmy Nominations
Numerous projects helmed by Columbia University faculty and alumni have been nominated for the?73rd Primetime Emmy Awards. They are:?Dick Johnson Is Dead,?The Social Dilemma,?Lovecraft Country,?Indian Matchmaking, and?The Handmaid's Tale.
?
Film
Three Columbia Documentaries Nominated at 2021 PGA Awards
Three projects by Columbia filmmakers have been nominated for a Documentary Motion Picture Prize at this year’s PGA Awards.
Film
Three Columbia Films Win at the 2020 Critics Choice Documentary Awards
Dick Johnson is Dead, co-produced by Associate Professor and Chair of the Creative Producing Concentration, Maureen A. Ryan was nominated for four Critics Choice Association Documentary Awards, winning Best Documentary Feature.?
Film
Feature Documentary, 'Dick Johnson is Dead,' produced by Columbia Filmmakers to Premiere on Netflix
Feature Documentary, Dick Johnson is Dead, co-produced by Associate Professor and Chair of the Creative Producing Concentration, Maureen A. Ryan, and Adjunct Assistant Professor Marilyn Ness, assistant directed by alumnus Michael Toscano ’12, and with alumnus John Wakayama Carey ’14, as Director of Photography, and production managed by Adjunct Assistant Professor Sarah Seulki Oh, will have its premiere on Netflix on October 2, 2020.
Film
Three Columbia Filmmakers Win Big at Sundance 2020
It’s been a successful 35th edition of the Sundance Film Festival for Columbia filmmakers with three films taking home prestigious prizes.
? Andre Lambertson
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Film