“I don’t really make films about extreme sports athletes, although I’ve now created three films about extreme sports athletes. I like films about people, films that have emotions and have relationships. This story should play to an audience that’s wider than skydiving.” — Marah Strauch- POV MAGAZINE
Marah Strauch is an Austrian-American filmmaker whose work fuses daring subject matter with a refined, poetic visual sensibility. Her films are known for their striking imagery, inventive structure, and their ability to reveal the emotional core of characters living in extraordinary circumstances.
A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied glass and experimental film, Strauch approaches nonfiction cinema with an artist’s eye. The tactile, sculptural quality of her early work informs her filmmaking today: she builds documentaries like works of art, layering archival, reenactment, and vérité into immersive, cinematic experiences.
Her debut feature, Sunshine Superman (Toronto International Film Festival, CNN Films, Magnolia Pictures, Universal International), told the story of BASE-jumping pioneer Carl Boenish and was praised by IndieWire as “one of the best U.S. docs of the year.” With breathtaking archival footage and bold visual storytelling, the film set a new bar for how adventure and subculture stories could be told on the big screen.
Strauch went on to direct Vice Versa: Chyna (Vice TV/Hulu), a searing and intimate portrait of professional wrestling icon Joanie “Chyna” Laurer. Critics noted its emotional depth and its refusal to flatten a complex figure into a single narrative.
In 2024, she returned to the Toronto International Film Festival with Space Cowboy, co-directed with Bryce Leavitt, chronicling the life of skydiving cinematographer Joe Jennings. Critics described the film as “a documentary that demands to be seen on the big screen” (The GATE). They highlighted Strauch’s ability to balance high-octane spectacle with tenderness, mental health, and friendship.
Across her work — whether in feature documentaries, festival shorts, or collaborations with brands like Adidas, ESPN, and Accenture — Strauch demonstrates a commitment to cinematic scale, emotional intimacy, and the belief that nonfiction stories deserve the same aesthetic ambition as fiction. Her films have screened at TIFF, Tribeca, Hot Docs, Outfest, and more, reaching audiences around the world and inspiring the next wave of boundary-pushing documentary.
