Mark Wojahn spends a lot of his time as a documentary filmmaker. His latest project in production are 2 films on the dancer Patrick Scully. Patrick is an internationally known dancer, gay activist and publicly HIV-positive man. He has danced professionally, since 1976, in Minnesota, New York, and Berlin. His work is infused with his political views on sexuality, the body, and society. For more infomation please visit the film's website or the gofundme page at this link.
The short film Soundtrack of Phillips, staring the musician Mankwe Ndosi. This short premiered at the MSPIFF in 2015.
He has also done the film Getting Lost in My Own Art, is about the creative world of the production designer and artist James R. Bakkom. 'Getting Lost' premiered on public tv in January of 2013. Here is a promo about the film.
Wojahn has been interested in film since the days his father, Ernest Wojahn, sat the kids down to show them his Super8 movies. This interest continued as Mark attended a teen film & photography workshop at Saint Paul's Film-in-the-Cities (now I.F.P.). It lead him to minor in Film Studies and receive a Bachelors in Art History at the University of Minnesota. He has made numerous short films and has co-produced and directed two feature length documentaries:
In 2014, he appeared on the St.Paul public television show CineMN in an interview about his documnetary work.
For more info, here is a reel of my personal and business projects, Take a look:
Mark also has two feature docs under his belt, Trampoline and From Sea To Shining Sea. Mark Wojahn's last feature film is "Trampoline", 99 minutes, digibeta (2010). Trampoline follows an amazing Minneapolis family with 4 teenagers for a year. Its been called, "Mark Wojahn's searing sophmore feature..." and "a no hold's barred portrait of an American Family".
'Trampoline' premiered at 2010 San Francisco's Docfest and recently played at the Driftless Film Festival in Wisconsin. We are currently self distributing the film. For more info go to the page on this website.
Mark's other feature, From Sea To Shining Sea, is from his long term project, "What America Needs". Mark started going across America after college to survey peoples public opinion of the country. His trip in 2002, resulted in a 93 minute feature that has played across the world. It is mastered on digibeta (2003). For more info go to the page on this website.
Mark has received some of the premier awards for Minnesota film making; a Jerome Media Grant in 2002 and a McKnight film Fellowship in 2009 for his work on these two features. His films have played at film festivals across America and in Europe.
Mark was recently commissioned by Best Buy to create a short documentary for their company. If you have a company which needs film content on your website or for a corporate meeting, please contact Mark to discuss your project.
Mark is grateful for all the collaborators over the years that have helped him create these documentaries. Film is a collective effort and some of stars of the local scene have played a big part in manifesting my vision. Some of them are; Deacon Warner, Julie Kaupa, Greg Winter, Ace Allgood, Jim Stanger, James R. Bakkom, Richard Werbowenko, Nick Nichols, Kemper Harris, Melody Gilbert, Michael Irei, Jane Minton, Matthew Bakkom, Jon Jon Scott, Robert Byrd, Dan Satorious, Mark Heitke, Splice Post, Skip Davis and Lu Lippold.
Some of Mark's heroes and major influences in documentary film; are Barbara Kruger, Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Dziga Vertov, Maysles Brothers, James Longley, Robb Moss, Michael Moore, Stacy Peralta and Jonathan Demme.
To view other films of Mark's please go to his You Tube page, http://www.youtube.com/user/wojphoto