John Maringouin

Maringouin's debut feature, Running Stumbled (2006), was a documentary film chronicling his return to his estranged father's home in Louisiana— his first visit in 25 years. Shot on digital video in 2002, .he film found his father, Johnny, living in chaotic poverty with his common-law wife.^[1] The film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam before screening at CineVegas.^[2] Time Out described it as part of "the fascinating, ever-expanding sub-genre of auto-archive documentary," placing it alongside Tarnation and Grizzly Man.^[1]

In 2006, Filmmaker Magazine selected Maringouin as one of their annual "25 New Faces of Independent Film," describing Running Stumbled as "a true epic in the fucked-up family doc genre."^[2]

Maringouin's second feature, Big River Man (2009), documented Slovenian endurance swimmer Martin Strel's attempt to swim the entire length of the Amazon River in 2007. The film followed Strel and his son and manager Borut as the expedition descended into physical and psychological extremity, with Strel losing his mind and nearly losing his life.^[3]

Maringouin's third feature as director, Ghostbox Cowboy (2018), was his first narrative fiction film. Starring David Zellner as a hapless Texan entrepreneur pitching a ghost-communication device to Chinese investors, the film was shot in Shenzhen, China. The film premiered in the narrative competition at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. IONCINEMA called it "a no-frills Pynchonian mind-blowing masterpiece."^[4]