Havana Marking
2021Havana Marking is a British producer and director of documentary films. She is best known for the 2009 film Afghan Star which won the Audience Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Marking was born in England and moved to the United States as a child. Her father was a professor at the University of Washington and her mother was one of the first female television directors in the UK. After returning to England, Marking worked as a TV researcher and then produced and directed several short films.
She released her first full-length documentary in 2007, The Crippendales, which follows the lives of disabled male strippers. The same year she began filming Afghan Star in Kabul, Afghanistan. Focusing on four contestants who are competing in a TV musical reality programme, Afghan Star was critically successful and won several awards at the 2009 Sundance Festival. Marking is currently at work on a documentary about Setara Hussainzada, a contestant on Afghan Star who received death threats for dancing on the programme.
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Afghan Star
Havana Marking
Habib Amiri, Setara Hussainzada
This documentary on the effect the talent competition "Afghan Star" has on the incredibly diverse inhabitants of Afghanistan affords a glimpse into a country rarely seen. Contestants risk their lives to appear on the television show that is a raging success with the public and also monitored closely by the government.
Afghan Star
The Kleptocrats
Havana Marking, Sam Hobkinson
In full-on investigative mode, reporters from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and Hollywood Reporter doggedly pursue the story of US $3.5 billion missing from a Malaysian wealth fund. They trace the dirty money, via real estate deals and movie financing, back to the top tiers of the Malaysian government. Incredibly (but oh, how fitting!), the audacious swindlers chose to back the 2014 blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street. Hollywood A-listers, including Leonardo DiCaprio, attended lavish parties hosted to launch the film. The embezzlement was orchestrated by a flamboyant fancier, Jho Low, and Riza Aziz, the stepson of the then-Malaysian Prime Minister. As the truth finally comes to light, assets are frozen and the fall-out begins.
The Kleptocrats
Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers
Havana Marking
Daniel Vivian
The Pink Panthers have stolen over £270m in diamonds in more than 241 robberies in cities from Paris to Tokyo. The film explores the rise of the group during the 1990s Balkan conflict when economic sanctions imposed on Serbia fueled illegal activities. The criminals reveal an underworld driven by fast wealth and paranoia, while the detectives and inspectors, who are working with Interpol, are on a mission to stop their crime spree with growing success.
Smash and Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers
Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star
Havana Marking
In this follow-up to 'Afghan Star,' filmmaker Havana Marking returns to Afghanistan to check in on infamous contestant Setara from the popular Afghan talent show of the same name. The film looks at where Setara is now and the impact that her controversial performance has had on her life and her country, including ever-present threats to her safety.
Silencing the Song: An Afghan Fallen Star
The PM, the Playboy and the Wolf of Wall Street
Havana Marking, Sam Hobkinson
Jho Low, Najib Razak
Investigative reporters examine the 1MDB scandal, tracing money from the Wolf of Wall Street all the way to the Malaysian Prime Minister.
The PM, the Playboy and the Wolf of Wall Street
