The Genius of Marian
TFI Suppport
TFI Documentary Fund 2011
Logline
(2011 TFI/HBO Fellowship)
An intimate portrait exploring the tragedy of Alzheimer's disease, the power of art and the meaning of family. The Genius of Marian follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease as her filmmaker son documents her struggles to hang on to a sense of self. The film is a visually rich, emotionally complex story about one family’s efforts to come to terms with the changes Alzheimer’s disease brings. www.geniusofmarian.com
Banker White
Director
Banker White is a multi-disciplinary artist and filmmaker based in San Francisco whose work has been celebrated for a uniquely intimate approach to telling large-scale social issues. From war and disease to the complex dimensions that surround aging and death, his work is unified by a compassionate humanism. Banker is the director and producer of the award-winning documentary, The Genius of Marian, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS's award-winning series POV in September 2014. Most recently, he co-directed and produced the Peabody and Emmy Award nominated Survivors (IDFA / POV 2018), which aired on POV in the fall of 2018 and continues to tour the international film festival circuit. Banker also directed Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars (POV 2007). The film was nominated by the IDA for best feature in 2006; won Grand Jury Awards at AFI Fest, Full Frame Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival; and earned Audience Awards at SXSW and the Miami International Film Festival. Banker is currently in production on Heaven Through the Backdoor, a multi-platform documentary about dying that has received support from the Sundance Documentary Fund, SFFILM, the Center for Cultural Innovation, the Creative Work Fund, Pacific Pioneer Fund and the Headlands Center for the Arts. His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the MacArthur Foundation, the Tribeca Film Institute, Impact Partners, LEF, DocSociety, SFFILM, the Catapult Film Fund and the Fledgling Fund. Banker also founded the WeOwnTV Freetown Media Center, a collaborative filmmaking and storytelling project in Sierra Leone, which is supported by Creative Capital, Freedom to Create, The Bertha Foundation, and BAVC.
Anna Fitch
Co-director, Producer
Anna Fitch is an Emmy award-winning director based in San Francisco. Anna’s documentaries have aired on PBS, BBC, National Geographic Channel and Channel4 UK, among others. Most recently she directed Octopus: Making Contact ,which aired on Nature (PBS), Natural World (BBC) in 2019, and co-directed and produced the Peabody and Emmy Award nominated Survivors, which aired on POV (PBS) in the fall of 2018. Anna co-directed the feature documentary, The Genius of Marian (2013), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was broadcast on POV in September 2014. Her film BugWorld: War of Two Worlds won an Emmy for Best Documentary Directing in 2003. Her narrative short The Burning Wigs of Sedition (2010) screened at the National Gallery of Art and film festivals worldwide. Anna is currently in production on Heaven Through the Backdoor, a multi-platform documentary about dying that has received support from the Sundance Documentary Fund, SFFILM, the Center for Cultural Innovation, the Creative Work Fund, Pacific Pioneer Fund and the Headlands Center for the Arts. Anna's past work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tribeca Film Institute, the MacArthur Foundation, Doc Society, the Catapult Film Fund, The Fledgling Fund and the Bertha Foundation.