Marianna Yarovskaya is a Russian-American documentary filmmaker who is the director and producer of the 2018 Academy Award short-listed documentary film Women of the GulagA Look in the Mirror: A Conversation with Marianna Yarovskaya About 'Women of the Gulag' // Los Angeles Review of BooksRussian-American film 'Women of the GULAG' hit the short list of Oscar nominations // Echo of MoscowInterview: Marianna Yarovskaya’s Short Film ‘Women Of The Gulag’ Shines A Light On Russia’s Forgotten Horrors// Close up Culture based on the book Women of the Gulag: Stories of Five Remarkable Lives by Paul Roderick Gregory (2013).Women of the Gulag at the International Documentary Association She also produced Greedy Lying Bastards (2012).
Early life and education Yarovskaya is the daughter of Russian actor and director Marianna Yablonskaya and a rocket scientist, Arkady Yarovsky.
She first studied journalism at Moscow State University, before moving to California and studying film at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Filmography In 1998, Yarovskaya directed Undesirables (Student Academy Award, 2001). Her documentary film Holy Warriors, a study of soldiers who found religion, has played in 35 countries worldwide. In 2006, she was a head of research on An Inconvenient Truth which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. She produced feature films Greedy Lying Bastards (2012) and Pussy Riot: the Movement (2013). Yarovskaya worked in the research department on Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2001), and on award-winning feature documentaries Countdown to Zero (2010), Samsara (2012), Spirit of the Marathon II (2013), Last Days in Vietnam (2014), Vessel (2014), Merchants of Doubt (2014), Red Army (2014), Swift Current (2016), Betting on Zero (2016), Boston (2017), Blood Road (2017), "Big Lies" (2018), "Skid Row Marathon" (2019), "Oleg" (2021), and Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me (2022).
Since 2000, she has also worked for Discovery Channel, National Geographic, the History Channel, Greenpeace and Netflix as Producer and Senior Editor.
Yarovskaya produced Women of the Gulag with historian Paul Roderick Gregory and executive producer Mitchell Block. The film premiered at the 41st Moscow International Film Festival in 2018. The film was shortlisted for an Academy Award in the "best documentary short" category.Oscars: Film Academy Narrows the List of Contenders in Nine Categories //Variety It won festivals in Iceland, US/California, South Korea, Hong Kong, France, Canada, Croatia, and Russia. The film's Russian TV premiere took place in May 2021, but the film was censored.Sulkin, Oleg (11 January 2019). "Фильм об узницах ГУЛАГа на российском ТВ лишили финала ", "Voice of America".
+Select Filmography of Marianna YarovskayaS. No.Film/DocumentaryYear Role1Undesirables1999Director, Producer2An Inconvenient Truth2007Head of Research3Holy Warriors2007Director, Producer4Samsara2011Researcher5Greedy Lying Bastards2012Producer6Pussy Riot: The Movement2013Executive Producer7Women of the Gulag2018Director, Producer8Big Lies2019Producer9Oleg: The Oleg Vidov Story2021Producer10How to Become a Tyrant2022Associate Producer11Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me2022Archive Researcher12Vishniac2023Archive Researcher13Yours in Freedom, Bill Baird2023Archive Producer149992024Archive Producer15Magazine Dreams2025Archive Researcher16Heist2025Archive Producer17Lyuba's Hope2026Director, Producer
Awards and recognition
Marianna directed and produced Undesirables, which won a Student Academy Award (Student Oscar) and a College Television Award and was screened at Cannes. An Inconvenient Truth won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. She is a recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Bridging Cultures Through Film grant. Women of the Gulag was short-listed for Academy Award Documentary Nomination in 2019. Yarovskaya is the first female director from Russia short-listed for the Oscars.
References
External links
Official website