We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hannah Marianetti a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Hannah, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I’ve taken acting classes since I was a child. Filmmaking has been an autodidactic journey — how I got my first job in film (not my first dollar) is a good story.

Hannah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

As soon as I was old enough to have a woman’s voice, I pretended to be my mother and called myself out of school.

That was back when Netflix would still mail you DVDs. Growing up with a single mother, it was about all we could afford anyway. I just remember watching those DVDs over and over again, and then watching all their special features.

It was like getting to see a magic trick and then learning the magician’s secret- a great escape from the suburbs of Almaden.

My career in film and TV began at a local access station when I was a student of Gender Studies and Cognitive Science at UC Santa Cruz. There, I produced a monthly live-broadcast comedy show and accidentally acted in a television series.

Soon after, I moved to New York City and looked for any job I could find in film, while simultaneously auditioning. I started by assistant editing the scraps of a documentary series for no pay. Later I logged a bunch of archival material for a little pay.

Then I graduated eventually to associate producing at Ark Media, one of the documentary Emmy machines in New York City. I got tons of experience in the field and learned how to approach storytelling with rigor. I contributed to work that screened at festivals internationally, including Sundance and SXSW, as well as streamed on HBO, NETFLIX, and SHOWTIME.

During Covid I made a claustrophobic go-pro documentary with my friend, James Yu, ostensibly about Asian Cinema. Really, it was a film about overcoming creative inertia.

Since then, I continue to pursue character-driven stories that highlight the scrappy resilience and ingenuity of outsiders.

My influences include – Kahlil Joseph, Agnes Varda, and Jia Zhangke—filmmakers who push the edge on using visual language, rhythm, and self-reflection to make emotional rather than didactic gestures.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

feeling like all my regrets will be manageable on my deathbed

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn the fantasy of being discovered. I imagined some mythical executive or institution would notice my talent and give me loads of money to make whatever I wanted.

It’s different for everyone, but I asked for every opportunity I received, and learned how to not take the answer “no” too personally.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hannahmarianetti.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/don.t.tell.mom
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-marianetti-88285898/
• Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/hannahmarianetti