• The Hollywood Reporter on LinkedIn
  • Follow THR on Pinterest

How Director Joshua Marston Went From Columbian Drug Mules to Albanian Blood Feuds in Latest Film (Berlin)

His powerful Spanish-language debut Maria Full of Grace, which won a Silver Bear in Berlin and garnered an Oscar nomination for star Catalina Sandino Moreno, put U.S. director Joshua Marston on the top of hot-indie-talent-to-watch-lists. But plans for an English-language follow up were smothered by the economic crisis. So Marston has again gone abroad for inspiration: his coming of age tale The Forgiveness of Blood is set in Albania and follows a teenager caught between the modern world and the eons-old blood feuds that still hold sway in the Baltics. Marston talked to The Hollywood Reporter's German Bureau Chief Scott Roxborough about going half way around the world and well outside his comfort zone to make his Berlin Festival Competition entry.