Joshua Jacob Marston (born August 13, 1968) is an American
screenwriter
A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
and
film director
A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...
best known for the film ''
Maria Full of Grace''.
Born in
Los Angeles County, California
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...
, he graduated from
Beverly Hills High School
Beverly Hills High School (shortly as BHHS or Beverly) is a public high school in Beverly Hills, California. The other public high school in Beverly Hills is Moreno High School, a small alternative school located on Beverly Hills High School's c ...
. Marston worked in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
as an intern for ''
Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'', then for
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to:
* ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
* ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company
ABC News may a ...
during the
Gulf War
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.
[Hundley, Jessica (July 15, 2004)]
DVD RE-RUN INTERVIEW: Fly-on-the-Wall Fiction: Joshua Marston on "Maria Full of Grace."
'' indieWIRE'' He returned to the United States and earned a
master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
in Political Science from
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
in 1994 before earning a
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.)
is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...
in film at
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...
.
[Gallagher, Steve (Summer 2002)]
25 new faces of independent film 2002.
''Filmmaker Magazine''
Marston also directed an episode of ''
Six Feet Under'', and Episode 7 of ''
The Newsroom'' in 2012. Marston directed a segment of the collective film ''
New York, I Love You
''New York, I Love You'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy-drama anthology film consisting of eleven short films, each by a different director. The shorts all relate in some way to the subject of love and are set among the five boroughs of Ne ...
''.
His 2011 film ''
The Forgiveness of Blood'' premiered in competition at the
61st Berlin International Film Festival
The 61st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 20 February 2011, with actress Isabella Rossellini as the president of the jury. The Coen Brothers film ''True Grit (2010 film), True Grit'' opened the festival. 300,000 tick ...
and competed for the
Golden Bear
The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...
.
Along with Andamion Murataj, Marston won the Silver Bear for Best Script.
In 2014, he received a
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...
in Film-Video.
In 2016, Marston made his English-language debut on ''
Complete Unknown'' starring
Rachel Weisz
Rachel Hannah Weisz (; born 7 March 1970) is an English actress. Known for her roles in independent films and blockbusters, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Rachel Weisz, several awards, including an Academy Award, ...
and
Michael Shannon
Michael Corbett Shannon (born August 7, 1974) is an American actor. Shannon received two Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nominations, for '' Revolutionary Road'' (2008), and '' Nocturnal Animals'' (2016). He received Screen Actors Guil ...
, which had its world premiere at the
2016 Sundance Film Festival
The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 21 to January 31, 2016. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 2, 2015. The opening night film was ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'', directed by Heidi E ...
. The film was released on August 26, 2016, by
Amazon Studios
Amazon MGM Studios is an American film and television production and distribution company owned by Amazon, and headquartered at the Culver Studios complex in Culver City, California. Launched on November 16, 2010, it took its current name on O ...
&
IFC Films
Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks.
It mainly distributes independent fil ...
.
In 2018, his film ''
Come Sunday
"Come Sunday" is a sacred jazz piece by Duke Ellington that has become a jazz standard. It was written as a part of the first movement of a suite entitled ''Black, Brown and Beige''.
History
Ellington was engaged for a performance at Carnegi ...
'' was released on
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marston, Joshua
1968 births
Independent Spirit Award winners
Living people
American male screenwriters
American television directors
Writers from Los Angeles County, California
Film directors from California
Screenwriters from California
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay winners
Sundance Film Festival award winners