Marina Gefter
Marina Gefter - Producer Born in Trieste, this Italian of Austrian-Hungarian origin, realized at a very young age that she didn't want to become a lawyer like her father and brothers. At 18, she leaves for Milan, attended political science at the University of Pavia and becomes a journalist. She writes in Italy for "Corriere della Sera", "Panorama" and "Vogue". In the early 70s, Marina works for "Vogue" in New York where she meets producer Tonino Cervi, son of the actor Gino Cervi, who produced, among others,Michelangelo Antonioni's THE RED DESERT. It is with him that she discovers the entertainment industry, a world she was never to leave.
It takes Marina Gefter two years to produce, at the age of 26, her first film in Italy: a parody of A THOUSAND AND ONE ARABIAN NIGHTS, directed by Anthony Dawson.
She follows this up by producing and directing via her production company Splendid Films more than twenty special 52” documentaries, in association with RAI, on some of the greatest American filmmakers: Woody Allen, Robert Altman, Francis Coppola, Steven Spielberg, Bob Fosse etc…
She returns to feature film in 1985 with GOOD MORNING, BABYLON directed by the Taviani brothers, representing Ed Pressman, at a time when Italian cinema was declining.
As destiny would have it, Francis Coppola decides to shoot THE GODFATHER: PART III in Rome and Sicily, and Marina Gefter becomes his associate producer. This was to be followed notably by the BBC film, LADY CHATTERLEY directed by Ken Russell as associate producer, THREE SISTERS by Margarethe Von Trotta as executive producer, and SOUTH directed by Gabriele Salvatores as executive producer.
In 1995, Marina Gefter leaves Italy to live between France and England. She coproduces via her English company Shining Pictures Ltd nine films in five years among which: THE REVENGERS' COMEDIES byMalcolm Mowbray, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Sam Neill, MARRAKECH EXPRESS by Gilles Mackinnon, starring Kate Winslet and Said Taghmaoui, THE LOST SON by Chris Menges, starring Daniel Auteuil and Nastassia Kinsky, THE LAST SEPTEMBER by Deborah Warner, starring Maggie Smith and Jane Birkin, DIVORCING JACK by David Caffrey, starring David Tewlis and Rachel Griffith, ROOM TO RENT by Khaled El Kadar, starring Juliette Lewis and Said Taghmaoui, and FANNY & ELVIS by Kay Mellor, starring Kerry Fox and Ray Winstone.
In June 2000 she meets in Paris American director Brian De Palma. He had just completed a script whose story takes place in Paris: FEMME FATALE. Fascinated by the plot, she decides to produce the film and comes up with the financing through Tarak Ben Ammar's company Quinta. From its development to its theatrical release, the film takes over two years. Marina is at the heart of the project, which she followed from its scripting to its shoot, including casting and selection of technical and artistic crews.
In 2003, Marina Gefter produces her first French film LILA DIT ÇA (LILA SAYS), directed by Ziad Doueiri and based on the novel by Chimo (Edition Plon). The film took part in many top international film festivals such as Toronto, London, Marrakech, Sundance, Istanbul .
In 2006, Marina Gefter was executive producer of a family drama directed by Alessandro Capone starring Isabelle Huppert, Mélanie Laurent and Greta Scacchi, “L’AMOUR CACHE”.
She then creates a French company called MES FILMS. The first film produced is “NOS 18 ANS”, a teen ager comedy shot in Bordeaux during the summer 2007, directed by Frédéric Berthe and starring Michel Blanc, Bernadette Lafont, and a group of new talented young French actors. The movie has been released by TFM in the summer 2008.
In 2008, she co-produced the last film of Fausto Brizzi, EX, that will open in France in late 2009.
Currently, Marina Gefter has two projects in development: the remake of the Spanish comedy A mi madre le gustan las mujeres (MY MOTHER LIKES WOMEN) to be shot in London and the south of France and TINA MODOTTI, a biopic on the adventurous life of the great photographer and political activist who was one of the most remarkable figures of the late 20s.