Marzena is a writer, director, and producer with a strong background in creative development. She holds a PhD from Stanford and an MFA from USC.  She is currently filming A REPORT FROM THE PLACE WHERE NOTHING HAPPENS, a legal documentary thriller set in Europe and New York. Her work has screened at over 80 festivals around the world – including Venice IFF, the Hamptons, Mar del Plata, and the Houston IFF – and aired on PBS and Canal+, earning recognition from the Rolex Mentor & Protégé Arts Initiative (finalist), Women in Film (Los Angeles), and the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship (semifinalist), and over a dozen creative excellence awards. 

Author of Private Topographies (Palgrave Macmillan), Marzena has published widely on literature, cinema, and narrative theory. Her film experience spans more than 20 productions across creative and technical roles, including work as a development consultant for HBO. She learned the craft alongside some of cinema’s most visionary figures, including Nina Foch, Judy Irola (ASC), Carlo and Edoardo Ponti, and Mark Harris. As an expert for OpenAI, she contributed to training advanced language models by designing complex, high-context questions.

Born in Warsaw (Poland), Marzena studied at the University of Budapest (Hungary), earned a PhD in Latin American & Comparative Literature from Stanford, and an MFA in directing and cinematography from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.  She holds dual U.S. and European Union (EU) citizenship and resides in Atlanta.