Marc Wilkins

Biography

Born 1976 in Bern, Marc Wilkins is a citizen of the UK and Switzerland. He grew up in Freiburg, south west of Germany, lived in Munich, Berlin, New York and Kyiv. His profession is film- directing and screenwriting.

He moved to Kyiv in 2016, fascinated by the cultural renaissance of Ukraine, after the Revolution of Dignity 2013/2014. He is the initiator and co-founder of The Naked Room, a commercial gallery in the heart of Kyiv, representing contemporary Ukrainian art.

Never at peace with authority, Marc quit school early and set off, knocking on the doors of the film industry. He taught himself the craft of filmmaking, working in different positions in over 10 feature film productions in various departments all over Europe.

In 2003 he was chosen as one of Saatchi’s 25 top ‚Young Directors‘ for advertising. In the same year he won his first Golden Lion in Cannes for GAME OVER, a commercial for ‚Doctors without boarders‘. Since then, Marc was directing countless commercials for clients such as BMW, Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, Beiersdorf and Vodafone, all over the globe.

His New York based short film, HOTEL PENNSYLVANIA, had its world premiere at the prestigious Clermont-Ferrand festival in 2013. It screened at many festivals around the world and was awarded with jury- and audience-prizes.

Marc’s last short film drama, BON VOYAGE, was shot in the Mediterranean Sea on a sailing yacht. It premiered in Palm Springs, where it won the jury award for best fictional short film. BON VOYAGE won 42 awards, was shortlisted for the 89th Academy Awards and was in competition in over 65 festivals internationally.

Marc’s directed his debut feature film, THE SAINT OF THE IMPOSSIBLE, 2019 in New York and Peru, produced by Swiss Television and the Swiss Ministry of Culture. A bitter-sweet coming-of-age tale, influenced by the current climate on immigration, based on a novel by Arnon Grünberg. It premiered at the 44th Mostra Sao Paulo Filmfestival. The U.S. premiere was taking place in competition at the Miami Filmfestival in 2021.

He is currently developing a tv series for NETFLIX, THE BOMB, and the feature film THE ELECTRIC GIRL, a Ukrainian thriller, with the support of the Zürich Filmfoundation.

Marc’s universe is driven by desire and punctuated by irony. In his films, perversions are romantic and chaotic, even the more aggressive one, finds its rightful place, providing the perfect backdrop for the young and angry icons he plays with.

His dark images take us to an imaginary universe daydreamed in a lush summer night. The rowdy appeal of his characters is never vulgar, rather they are sinfully humorous or downright dramatic.

Thanks to his rigorous commitment to the camera and through an elegant use of postproduction and sound, he amuses himself and the viewer alike with a poetic touch of provocative surrealism that is his signature.