Today we’d like to introduce you to Ravit Markus.
Hi Ravit, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I recently won the Slamdance Film Festival Audience Award for my feature documentary, American Pot Story: Oaksterdam. It was the film’s world premiere, and I couldn’t have wished for a better launch for it. It felt like the culmination of both the decade I worked on this project, but also the culmination of many years of hard work in film with which I fell in love already in middle school. I was lucky enough to make it into an arts high school that had a film program. That led me to serving in a video unit in the education corpse of the IDF which I followed with a BFA from the Film and TV Department of Tel Aviv University. I then moved to Los Angeles where I produced a documentary on the porn industry for Channel 4 UK and wrote and produced the critically acclaimed documentary Yiddish Theater: A Love Story which played at the Laemmle Theaters for 18 weeks, landed me on the front page of the LA Times Calendar and played in numerous festivals and theaters all around the world with a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score. I’m excited to start the journey with my newest film and to see where it takes me. American Pot Story: Oaksterdam shows a decade of change in the American cannabis policy through the personal stories of a handful of rebels who took a huge risk to transpire this change. The film is an ode to activists, no matter the cause, and I believe it’ll resonate with everyone who ever fought for any issue close to their heart.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Of course not! It is always a struggle for indie filmmakers to find funding for our projects. You get a lot more NOs than YESs and you have to keep going with a brave face which is not easy for me. I take it all personally and every grant that rejects my application and every festival that turns down my films knocks the wind out of me for a while.
Also, when you make documentaries, they take a life of their own. The inability to control your subjects or life can definitely test one’s patience and stamina. I’ve had partners drop out of projects when things didn’t go as planned. When people give up hope on your project, it feels very lonely out there.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am mostly known as a writer/producer of documentaries and I worked on quite a few in that capacity. However, in my last documentary, American Pot Story: Oaksterdam, that just won the Audience Award at Slamdance Film Festival, I was also one of the two directors. I am also writing, producing and co-directing my next documentary NINA, about the para-badminton Player Nina Gorodetsky and her journey to the Tokyo Paralympics. I specialize in positive stories that show people fighting for the right thing. I am proud of my ability to tell moving personal stories that reflect a big moment in history, so the audience has an emotional and entertaining experience, but they also learn something along the way.
Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
I credit the people of Los Angeles for my success. I found a very supportive community here, both in the indie film world and outside of it. More specifically is my partner in life and art, Dan Katzir, with whom I co-created a human and several films. The latest of which is our documentary American Pot Story: Oaksterdam. We also have two wonderful executive producers who have been the film’s champions before anyone else believes in it or us: Dahlia Waingort Guigui of Sunset Pictures and Dan’s beloved Directing Professor at AFI: Rick Rosenthal. Also, the leaders of the Slamdance Film Festival and the co-founders of their groundbreaking Unstoppable program that we had the honor of being a part of with our newest documentary, American Pot Story: Oaksterdam.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.AmericanPotStory.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/americanpotstory/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/americanpotstory/
Image Credits
Dan Katzir
