Mark Franchetti

History

In 2013 Franchetti Produced The Condemned, an indy feature-length documentary about a remote Russian prison exclusively for murderers. In 2015 produced and co-directed Bolshoi Babylon, a feature-length documentary about the Bolshoi Theatre, for HBO and the BBC. He has presented and produced several BBC prime time documentaries. Franchetti worked for 25 years as a foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times of London. In the last two decades he has been based in Moscow. He was awarded the British Press Award in 2003, after reporting on the Moscow theatre siege, when he entered the building twice during the hostage taking to interview the terrorists and a Foreign Press Association award in 2004 for his reports on the alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians by U.S Marines. ​He has written extensively about Russia and the former Soviet Union and covered the conflict in Chechnya and the wars in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, Georgia, and Ukraine.

Movies

Our Godfather
Our Godfather
Archival Footage Research
The story of how Sicilian Mafia boss Tommaso Buscetta (1928-2000), the Godfather of Two Worlds, revealed, starting in 1984, the deepest secrets of the organization, thus helping to convict the hundreds of mafiosi who were tried in the trial held in Palermo between 1986 and 1987.
Our Godfather
Our Godfather
Production Manager
The story of how Sicilian Mafia boss Tommaso Buscetta (1928-2000), the Godfather of Two Worlds, revealed, starting in 1984, the deepest secrets of the organization, thus helping to convict the hundreds of mafiosi who were tried in the trial held in Palermo between 1986 and 1987.
Our Godfather
Our Godfather
Producer
The story of how Sicilian Mafia boss Tommaso Buscetta (1928-2000), the Godfather of Two Worlds, revealed, starting in 1984, the deepest secrets of the organization, thus helping to convict the hundreds of mafiosi who were tried in the trial held in Palermo between 1986 and 1987.
Our Godfather
Our Godfather
Director
The story of how Sicilian Mafia boss Tommaso Buscetta (1928-2000), the Godfather of Two Worlds, revealed, starting in 1984, the deepest secrets of the organization, thus helping to convict the hundreds of mafiosi who were tried in the trial held in Palermo between 1986 and 1987.
Our Godfather
Our Godfather
Writer
The story of how Sicilian Mafia boss Tommaso Buscetta (1928-2000), the Godfather of Two Worlds, revealed, starting in 1984, the deepest secrets of the organization, thus helping to convict the hundreds of mafiosi who were tried in the trial held in Palermo between 1986 and 1987.
Pure Art
Pure Art
Screenplay
Pretty Sasha finds herself in a whirlpool of intrigue and criminal games after her lover, a talented painter, is murdered. Chased on one side by brutal criminals who don't leave witnesses, and on the other by the cops who consider her the #1 suspect, Sasha is forced to act alone to solve the mystery of her lover’s death and keep herself alive and free at the same time. Gradually she unravels the tangle of mysteries and deceptions, only to learn that her lover was forging paintings which had been sold for millions of dollars, and no-one really is who they say they are.
Bolshoi Babylon
Bolshoi Babylon
Director
A behind-the-scenes look at Moscow's prestigious Bolshoi Theatre as it's rocked by an acid-attack scandal in 2013.
Bolshoi Babylon
Bolshoi Babylon
Producer
A behind-the-scenes look at Moscow's prestigious Bolshoi Theatre as it's rocked by an acid-attack scandal in 2013.
The Condemned
The Condemned
Producer
With unprecedented access, this documentary looks into the hidden world of one of Russia's most impenetrable and remote institutions - a maximum security prison exclusively for murderers. Deep inside the land of the gulags, this is the end of the line for some of Russia's most dangerous criminals - 260 men who have collectively killed nearly 800 people. The film delves deep into the mind and soul of some of these prisoners. In brutally frank and uncensored interviews the inmates speak of their crimes, life and death, redemption and remorselessness, insanity and hope. The film tracks them though their unrelenting days over several months, lifting the veil on one of Russia's most secretive subcultures to reveal what happens when a man is locked up in a tiny cell for 23 hours every day, for life. A startling insight into inscrutable minds and the forbidding world they have been condemned to. (Storyville)