Zoey Martinson is a author and director whose work spans tv, movie and theatre.
Her credit embody The Wave for MTV and Paramount+, Chew Measurement Halloween for Hulu, Ziwe Season 2 for Showtime and A24, Cupids for CBS and BET, and Betty for HBO Max.
Her function debut, The Fisherman, a magical realist comedy set in Ghana, premiered on the Venice Biennale Movie Competition the place it received UNESCO’s Fellini Medal, and has since picked up honours at festivals in Los Angeles and Miami.
With screenings persevering with internationally, together with at S.O.U.L. Fest and the British City Movie Competition this yr, Martinson displays on her journey, her inspirations, and the position of humour in African storytelling.
Please introduce your self …
Zoey Martinson, Aquarius, Friday Born, Artist, Author, Director, Mom, Lover of Cake.
Describe your life in a single phrase or a sentence …
To develop into a connoisseur of the absurd.
Why are we right here?
The Fisherman.
Inform us what this movie is about in your individual phrases …
A standard Ghanaian fisherman pressured into retirement groups up with a bougie speaking fish and his quirky associates on a whimsical journey to Accra, chasing their dream of proudly owning a ship whereas studying to navigate the fashionable world. Stuffed with laughter, magic, and the colourful tradition of Ghana, The Fisherman is a pleasant story of household, desires, and the enduring spirit of a real fisherman.
The place’d this story come from?
From my time residing in Keta, Ghana, the place I spent afternoons watching fishermen pull nets from the ocean. I’d dream about what is likely to be hidden beneath the ocean or past its shores. The speaking fish got here from my mom’s typically hysterical biting humour, whereas the struggles of the fishermen got here from actuality.
How did your directorial course of differ out of your final mission?
That is my debut function movie, so the entire course of was an enormous endeavor. Beforehand, I had labored in TV, shot movie and theatre, so it was considerably new and acquainted on the identical time. For The Fisherman, I knew the funds was super-limited, so I needed to be intentional, collaborative and do tons of preparation to inform a phenomenal story inside that funds.
Have been there any story blocks?
I actually relied closely on my producer, Kofi Owusu-Afriyie, after I was making an attempt to get the story written. I’d name after I was caught and simply discuss via the choices. I’d interview folks to assist create characters, like within the financial institution scene. I went to an precise banker and requested them to speak with me about how a fisherman may attempt to get a enterprise mortgage. I then took that info and created the comedy round the true info.
Which character is closest to you and the way you see the world?
The character of ShaSha is closest to my desires as a feminine director making an attempt to interrupt right into a male-dominated subject. She desires of being a ship captain in a male-dominated vocation. We’re each bold and making an attempt to determine who we’re, in distinction to what the world is telling us to be. I knew I needed to inform a considerably feminist story, however via a male protagonist. The themes deal with change and accessibility, however the world of conventional fishing in Ghana is predominantly male, so it was necessary to discover a strategy to convey extra feminine voices into the combo whereas retaining the prevalent traditions within the story.
Does Ata’s character and his reluctance to embrace fashionable expertise mirror the generational hole that continuously performs out in African tradition, and in additional methods than one, rears its head in African politics?
Completely. His mistrust of expertise mirrors the way in which older generations typically view fashionable politics. With the web, tradition adjustments so shortly. I believe it displays a worry of being unable to maintain up or getting left behind. I’ve that worry typically. On the identical time, the event of Ata’s character highlights the knowledge in slowing down, having conversations and valuing actual human interactions.
The sequences on this movie function using humour as a significant plot system. What influenced your choice to go the comedic route?
Ghana is among the funniest locations on earth. I needed audiences to see that pleasure and wit are as integral to African storytelling as drama or tragedy. Comedy permits us to speak about severe issues like ageing, expertise, and local weather change with out shedding hope.
Let’s get political. How do you assume this movie suits into the canon for telling optimistic black tales?
It celebrates Black pleasure and softness. Most of the time, African tales in cinema are framed round trauma. This movie insists that laughter, resilience, and neighborhood are simply as revolutionary.
There’s a subtext to this movie that dwells on local weather change and environmental degradation. Do you are feeling like this hasn’t been explored sufficient in Fiction, in comparison with documentary movies, for instance?Documentaries typically dominate environmental conversations, however fiction permits audiences to really feel it. By means of Ata’s eyes, we see how erosion and modernisation actually reshape folks’s lives. It’s visceral and private.
On the subject of movies made by black administrators that get chosen for festivals, do you are feeling that those that make the important thing selections favour sure themes over others? The place’s the black pleasure relating to movies within the worldwide competition circuit?
Superb query. I get it, Life is tough, so should you get a ton of cash to make a movie, why not delve into these themes? However comedy is usually how folks address laborious conditions or oppression. My physique doesn’t let me dwell in my disappointment for too lengthy. I’ll finally discover my method in the direction of the sunshine simply to attract breath. I discover this in Black communities around the globe, so it’s at all times in my work. I’m simply completely happy that festivals are programming it, however I do get rejected so much as effectively.
Between Betty, Cupids, Ziwe and The Fisherman, your work emphasises using comedy to dissect necessary topics like household, self-acceptance, friendship and sexuality. What’s your largest motivation to deal with life’s points on this method?
I like to make use of comedy as a method into life’s stickier discussions to assist discover a pathway to empathy.
For unbiased filmmakers seeking to safe funding and distribution for his or her initiatives, what would you say are some things they need to count on, given that you’ve some pores and skin within the sport?
Bwahaha. I’m the worst, I do not know, we are able to’t get distribution both. I hear the explanations: no “celebrities”, set in Ghana, African Comedy, blah blah blah. High quality. However what I select to embrace is that audiences around the globe have liked the movie and see themselves in these underdog characters making an attempt to beat the percentages. The world wants laughter proper now, so I don’t take any competition or viewers that exhibits as much as see the movie as a right as a result of they’re meant to be there, submersed in our fishy insanity.
I come from the laborious locations, the poor locations, the locations folks ignore, and I see magnificence there. If I have been afraid of the gatekeepers, I wouldn’t have a profession. They’ve by no means let me in, so I’ve constructed my very own gates, and they’re vast open for everybody. I really like being an artist for that motive; the flexibility to collaborate with good folks and hopefully get to inform a couple of tales on the way in which.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
If not a filmmaker, you’d be … A Genetic Biologist.
What’s made you unhappy, mad, & glad this week? Unhappy – rejection. Mad – my 2-year-old appears to solely know the phrase “No” or “Dough”… sigh. Glad – consuming some good meals, having some good laughs, and household.
What are you watching? I simply completed The Gilded Age on HBO Max.
What are you studying? The brand new script I’m making an attempt to write down. Sorry.
The final movie you watched? Seance by Vivian Kerr. It’s a Supernatural Horror movie.
The final play you noticed? SUMO on the Public in NYC.
The final dwell music occasion? My daughter’s end-of-school live performance. It was mid, lol.
What’s presently in your playlist? Mapei, Baaba J, Worlasi.
Which podcast(s) are you listening to? I don’t have sufficient area on my cellphone to obtain them, sorry.
What’s in your bucket listing? Bali. Making one other movie. Getting my TV exhibits on the planet.
The place’s your completely happy place? My youngsters’ laughter.
Rejoice another person … Vincho Nchogu (Kenyan Director) simply made her first function movie, and it’s premiering in Venice this yr.
What’s subsequent? I’m making an attempt to get a couple of TV exhibits purchased, and I’m writing some new movies.
The place can we discover you? @zoeymartinson throughout social media platforms.
The place can we watch you at work? Hulu, CBS, Paramount+, and HBO Max.
The Fisherman is screening at this yr’s S.O.U.L. Fest. It has additionally been chosen for the 2025 British City Movie Competition (BUFF), scheduled to happen in October.