Director: Marina Viscun

Born in: Ukraine
Biography: Marina Viscun is an award-winning Moldovan-American filmmaker living and working in Los Angeles, CA. As a producer, she has been honored with two Telly Awards (Bronze Telly 2018 for “Big Voice” documentary, Silver Telly 2012 for “Journey to Safety” PSA), multiple Best Documentary awards for “Big Voice” (Heartland Film Festival 2015, South Dakota Film Festival 2015, and NewFilmmakers LA 2015), and Grand Jury and Audience Awards for “Ode to Los Angeles” by NewFilmmakers LA in 2011. As a writer, Viscun’s work has also garnered attention: her foreign-language feature “Seeds” was semi-finalist of Athena List 2018 and was shortlisted for Sundance Screenwriting Lab 2016, while her television pilot “Dress Blues” was quarter-finalist of Final Draft’s Big Break Contest 2017. In addition to relationship drama, Marina writes sci-fi, period, and romantic comedies, and enjoys writing short films that she also directs. Marina Viscun’s directorial debut was the experimental music video “Nuke City” in 2014, followed by the military short “scratch on metal”, which had its World Premiere at the San Pedro International Film Festival 2016, alongside abortion drama “The Option”, which she wrote. Marina is currently in active development on her feature “Seeds” to shoot in Eastern Europe, and pre-production on her shorts LGBTQ+ drama “Last Night” and sexual violence drama “Reverse”, while pitching other projects. Marina is the President of Pingvin Productions, Founder and Host of women collective #WeAreWITI, and former Head of Production at Pulse Films US and Producer at Caviar LA. She is a member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA), Alliance of Women Directors (AWD), Veterans in Media and Entertainment (VME), Women in Media (WIM), and Film Powered. She is the Newsletter Editor with AWD, and has served on the PGA West Women’s Impact Network, Diversity, and Education Committees, as a Chair of the Events Committee with NewFilmmakers LA, and was the Operations Co-Director for San Pedro International Film Festival. Viscun’s contributions to the LA area’s women empowerment has led to nominations for the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Women’s Summit Awards (2013-2017). Prior to her work in the entertainment industry, she taught Political Science and International Relations in colleges in New England and California and served in the US Navy on a forward-deployed ship stationed in Italy. Marina likes chocolate, animals, traveling, and good company.