Anna Fitch
TFI Support
TFI Documentary Fund 2011
About
Anna Fitch is an Emmy award-winning director based in San Francisco. Anna’s documentaries have aired on PBS, BBC, National Geographic Channel and Channel4 UK, among others. Most recently she directed Octopus: Making Contact ,which aired on Nature (PBS), Natural World (BBC) in 2019, and co-directed and produced the Peabody and Emmy Award nominated Survivors, which aired on POV (PBS) in the fall of 2018. Anna co-directed the feature documentary, The Genius of Marian (2013), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was broadcast on POV in September 2014. Her film BugWorld: War of Two Worlds won an Emmy for Best Documentary Directing in 2003. Her narrative short The Burning Wigs of Sedition (2010) screened at the National Gallery of Art and film festivals worldwide. Anna is currently in production on Heaven Through the Backdoor, a multi-platform documentary about dying that has received support from the Sundance Documentary Fund, SFFILM, the Center for Cultural Innovation, the Creative Work Fund, Pacific Pioneer Fund and the Headlands Center for the Arts. Anna's past work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tribeca Film Institute, the MacArthur Foundation, Doc Society, the Catapult Film Fund, The Fledgling Fund and the Bertha Foundation.
Survivors
Through the eyes of Sierra Leonean filmmakers, SURVIVORS presents a portrait of their country during the Ebola outbreak, exposing the complexity of the epidemic and the socio-political turmoil that lies in its wake.
Heaven Through the Backdoor
HEAVEN THROUGH THE BACKDOOR is a multi-platform documentary that tells the story of Yo (Yolanda Shae), a fiercely independent 88-year Swiss emigre whose unique brand of individualist feminism culminates in how she chooses to live in old age and ultimately, how she prepares for her next great adventure: death. The project juxtaposes intimate documentary footage with cinematic interpretations of Yo’s stories using intricately built miniature sets and other creations.
The Genius of Marian
(2011 TFI/HBO Fellowship)
An intimate portrait exploring the tragedy of Alzheimer's disease, the power of art and the meaning of family. The Genius of Marian follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease as her filmmaker son documents her struggles to hang on to a sense of self. The film is a visually rich, emotionally complex story about one family’s efforts to come to terms with the changes Alzheimer’s disease brings. www.geniusofmarian.com