Trisha Ziff
British filmmaker and curator (born 1956)
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Trisha Ziff (born 21 July 1956) is a British curator and documentary filmmaker. She is a 2000 Guggenheim Fellow and her work includes Chevolution (2008), The Mexican Suitcase (2012), and The Man Who Saw Too Much (2015).
- Curator
- filmmaker
-
- Chevolution (2008)
- The Mexican Suitcase (2012)
- The Man Who Saw Too Much (2015)
Trisha Ziff | |
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Ziff in 2016 | |
| Born | 21 July 1956 Leeds, England |
| Alma mater | |
| Occupations |
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| Notable work |
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| Spouse | Pedro Meyer (div.) |
| Children | 1 |
| Mother | Ann Rachlin |
| Relatives | Jan Ziff (sister) |
| Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship (2000) |
Biography
Ziff was born on 21 July 1956 in Leeds, England,[1] daughter of Barratts Shoes director Neville Ziff and musician and author Ann Rachlin.[2] She obtained her pre-diploma in fine arts from Canterbury College of Art in 1974 and her BA with honours from Goldsmiths College, University of London in 1977.[3]
Ziff worked in Mexico City, working as a curator.[1] She edited and contributed to several books, including Still War: Photographs from the North of Ireland (1989), Between Worlds: Contemporary Mexican Photography (1990), Distant Relations: Chicano Irish and Mexican Art and Critical Writing (1995), and Hidden Truths: Bloody Sunday 1972 (1999).[1] In 2000,[4] she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for "a study of the historical narrative of the San Patricios in a contemporary context".[1] In 2006, she served as curator of the Victoria and Albert Museum's exhibition on the Che Guevara photograph Guerrillero Heroico, criticizing the V&A's decision to not honor her request to invite her long-time friend and president of Sinn Féin Gerry Adams.[5][6] Despite the success of the exhibit,[5] Richard Gott of The Guardian criticized its companion book, which she edited, as a "superficial and sloppy piece of historical reporting that relies considerably for its best sections on the expertise of David Kunzle".[7]
Ziff made her documentary debut co-directing with Luis Lopez the 2008 film Chevolution, centered on the aforementioned Guevara photograph.[8][5] She was director, writer, and producer for The Mexican Suitcase (2012), centered on thousands of film negatives created during the Spanish Civil War by David Seymour [Seymour], Robert Capa, and Gerda Taro.[9] Her next documentary The Man Who Saw Too Much (2015) was centered on Mexican photographer Enrique Metinides; Variety featured Ziff on their Mexico: Up Next! series, saying that "as a photographer's photographer, Ziff is intimate with the desire to risk all in taking a shot – or so she wishes".[10] She also won Best Documentary Feature at the 58th Ariel Awards for The Man Who Saw Too Much.[11] She later directed a feature documentary named Witkin and Witkin (2017),[12] as well as a Netflix short documentary named A Tale of Two Kitchens (2019).[13] She directed A Ballymurphy Man (2025), which is centered on Gerry Adams, with whom she became friends after they met in 1981.[5]
By the 1980s, Ziff founded the Camerawork collective in the Bogside in Derry.[5] She also co-founded the film company 212Berlin.[3]
Ziff was married to Spanish photographer Pedro Meyer until their divorce.[9] They have one child, a son.[9] Her sister Jan Ziff was a journalist and children's author.[2]
Filmography
- Chevolution (2008)[8]
- The Mexican Suitcase (2012)[9]
- The Man Who Saw Too Much (2015)[10]
- Witkin and Witkin (2017)[12]
- A Tale of Two Kitchens (2019)[13]
- A Ballymurphy Man (2025)[5]