James Baldwin once said: “Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.”
This rings very true, especially in these trying times we are living in. Where you come from doesn’t just influence the stories you tell, it shapes how you go about making them.
Your process. Your instincts. Your perspectives.
As an immigrant to this country, that’s very much been my experience — navigating my own assimilation while holding tightly to my Brazilian culture, heritage, and language. Art is inherently political and that shared understanding is part of what makes this conversation a particularly special one for me.
Thus, I am delighted to share this special chat with Marina Stabile.
She is a talented line producer and producer. She’s also a dear friend and someone I lean on frequently to commiserate in the challenges or celebrate the small (and sometimes big!) wins. We actually met years ago when she was at AFI, working on her thesis film The Response, about the 1992 LA riots, which went on to win a Student BAFTA. I was immediately drawn to her, initially because we were both Brazilian and I had to sniff out the competition, but as I slowly got to know her, it was clear that she’s a force. She was the first person to lend me producing books back when I was flirting with the idea of getting into this very lucrative and fancy career path.
Disclaimer: I have yet to return said books.
Then, as happens in this industry, we lost touch for about 10 years. When serendipity brought us back together thanks to her hiring me for a much needed gig during the pandemic, it was like no time had passed. In the masked era of production, crew struggled to tell us apart and we loved it. It’s rare to be on set with another line producer, and we marveled at how, even though our paths were vastly different, we approached the work similarly and were anchored in our moral compass of how to navigate this business that loves to challenge your ethics.
We often talk about the value of community, of finding your people who hold space for you through the impossible parts of this career. Marina is one of those people for me. So to have her on the podcast, coming off a huge and rare professional moment, means the world.
And What a Momentous Moment It Is…
Marina’s feature film Josephine won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at Sundance 2026! ‘Tis the indie producers holy grail! I’m such a proud mama bear. Oh, and this is not Marina’s first time — she line produced Clemency in 2019, which also won the Grand Jury Prize.
Starring Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan, the film follows an 8-year-old girl who witnesses a brutal sexual assault in Golden Gate Park. It’s based on a real life experience that filmmaker Beth de Araújo (also half Brazilian!) experienced in her childhood.
Huge congrats to the whole team as Sumerian pictures just picked up the U.S. rights to the film. I’m personally eager to study how distributors will tastefully market a film that deals with a challenging subject matter in this market.
Marina has been at this for a long time. She has worked across indie and studio, from deeply personal films to a stint as a VFX production supervisor on a large studio movie that, most people would’ve seen as a step down, but she recognized as the growth opportunity it was. She’s navigated California tax credit applications, fought to keep productions shooting in LA, and built a reputation as the kind of producer who protects both the story and the people making it.
Like me, Marina grew up in Brazil. Unlike me, she moved to Switzerland at 10 years old where she attended an international school with over 118 nationalities. Think about what a rare gift that is! Before she ever stepped on a film set, she was already learning how to navigate across cultures and how to listen for what’s universal in a room full of people with unique world views.
What a wonderful life experience and probably one of the most important producing skills one can and should hone. As Marina said:
“You figure out very quickly that no matter how disparate cultures are, stories can be universal. As long as you can make somebody identify with a character, you can take them on just about any journey.”
You can hear it in the way she works. The care she brings to set. The way she thinks about who’s in the room and what they might be carrying. The way she approaches the production process like a delicate dance between craft and financial realities. Everything about how Marina produces is informed by who she is and where she’s been. I can attest to this having been on set with her.
And I think that’s true for all of us….whether we realize it or not. The lens you bring to the work is political. It’s cultural. It’s personal. And it matters.
Can’t wait to hear your takeaways from this episode!
Keep creating, keep hustling. And as always, thanks for doing this life thing with me!
Carolina is an Emmy nominated producer. She was previously the Executive in Charge of Production at Issa Rae’s HOORAE Media and ColorCreative. She was born in São Paulo, Brazil and moved with her family to the US when she was a child. Her immigrant upbringing inspired her to work hard to build the career of her dreams.
Carolina produced the 2017 Emmy nominated feature documentary AUTISM IN LOVE, which explores how adults with autism find and navigate romantic relationships. Other documentaries include HYSTERICAL (2020) for FX and THE HONORABLE: SHYNE (2024) for Hulu.
Passionate about supporting female filmmakers, she was a co-producer on Netflix’s MISS VIRGINIA, starring Uzo Aduba and IFC’sTHE FEMALE BRAIN, Whitney Cummings‘ directing debut feature film. She was a physical producer on Amazon’s SYLVIE’S LOVE starring Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha. She was also the UPM/EP on Adamma Ebo’s 2022 Sundance hit HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL, starring Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown.
She is also the creator and host of the hit podcast Angle on Producers. With 150+ episodes, the show dives deep into the journeys of producers and magic makers in our industry. Recent guests include Paul Feig (THE HOUSEMADE), Sev Ohanian ( SINNERS),and Alex Coco (ANORA).
Marina Stabile is an LA-based Producer and Line Producer. She started her career working on short-form documentaries for the United Nations at the International Labor Organization, in Switzerland, then headed to Los Angeles. She has since worked on such films as Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner CLEMENCY, BEATRIZ AT DINNER, Searchlight’s HOLD YOUR BREATH, Amazon’s THE PEOPLE WE HATE AT THE WEDDING and Netflix/BBC’s THE ANTHRAX ATTACKS, and was the Supervising Producer on HBO’s “Insecure: The End”. She most recently produced JOSEPHINE, which won both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at Sundance, and will be screening in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.
She has also served as VP of Physical Production at Play Productions, where she produced branded content and commercial campaigns for such brands a Jaguar, Hyundai, Nestle, Verizon, Microsoft, Acuvue, Jello, and many more.
Marina is a Brazilian and Swiss national. She holds a BA in Film and International Relations from the University of Southern California and an MFA in Film Producing from the American Film Institute, where she co-wrote and produced the BAFTA award winning short “The Response”.
