ABOUT ME
I hold a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University. My dissertation, which is a result of several years of dedicated fieldwork in Georgia (the country, not the state), explores how power, preservation, and death — both semiotic and literal — coincide, intersect, and diverge in the Georgian folk singing communities.
In 2019-2020 I directed and produced my first documentary film, Life in Three Voices, which follows a group of Georgian singers on tour in the US, as well as in their native Georgia, and focuses on the vocal polyphonic tradition that brings together the most unlikely combinations of people from around the world. Since then, I have been involved in a number of film projects in Georgia, Austria, and the US.
With my partner, I am the co-founder of Pillusion Film Festival, an independent international film festival that takes place in a repurposed barn in a 1000-inhabitant village in the Tyrolean Alps, and seeks to create a welcoming, collaborative, diverse environment for local and international filmmakers and facilitate a better creative and cultural infrastructure for all, especially young and aspiring filmmakers from the surrounding small towns and villages, who have very limited options for learning about film and showcasing their work.
In addition to my academic and cinematic pursuits, I also have the pleasure of acting as a US manager/producer for an incredible group of singers, called Ensemble Adilei.
During previous lives, I worked as an adjunct instructor, and got an MFA in poetry from Columbia in 2010. Prior to moving to New York City in pursuit of said MFA, I lived in Tucson, Arizona (where I attended U of A and played/sang in a lackluster band).
I am fluent in Georgian and Russian, and am striving to improve my currently-intermediate German.
Various hobbies include singing (with Supruli Georgian Choir, Giedula Lithuanian Ensemble, and in the past, Ukrainian Village Voices), hiking/camping, distance running, swimming, and cooking. I've been known to make a mean quiche.
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︎ ︎ Note: some of my published work, as well as my PhD dissertation, appears under the name “Marina Kaganova.”