The Marina Experiment

A Father's Voyeuristic Obsession with his Daughter

Marina's father communicated with her solely through cameras and audio recording devices, documenting the emotional violations she endured under his direction. After his death she cleared out storage and discovered over 10,000 photographs, super 8 films and reel-to-reel audiotape interrogations covering the first 16 years of her upbringing in 1960's and 1970's Manhattan. She spent 10 years sorting through it all, referring to the archive as "evidence." She says, 'it was just a bunch of boxes full of crap until I turned it into an historical document.'

The film is a both eerie and infinitely fascinating archive of her father's transgressive voyeurism, her objectification and emotional abuse, his pathological narcissism and bullying, and what has been called by many viewers, her "stolen childhood." She says, 'In not one of those 10,000 photographs am I smiling and the only time my parents touch me is to hold my hand in a restraining way, as if to stop me from running away.'

"The Marina Experiment raises many complex issues, not least the sensitivity and controversy of using children in art. It is a brilliant piece of filmmaking." - Louise Carpenter, Observer Magazine, Guardian.co.uk.

"Using the footage once gathered to humiliate her, Marina turns the table on her father to create a chilling document of psychological abuse and fractured survival while also serving as a reminder that many bruises are deep, unseen, but no less damaging." - John Ginn, DaVinci Film Festival.

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY - Super Shorts International Film Festival (London)

BEST SHORT FILM - Melbourne Underground Film Festival (Australia)

BEST INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY - CurtoCircuito Int'l Short Film Festival (Spain)