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Trisha Ziff

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Trisha Ziff
Ziff in 2016
Born (1956-07-21) 21 July 1956 (age 69)
Leeds, England
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Curator
  • filmmaker
Notable work
SpousePedro Meyer (div.)
Children1
MotherAnn Rachlin
RelativesJan Ziff (sister)
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (2000)

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).

Biography

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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.[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

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Reports of the President and the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 1999. p. 44. Archived from the original on 5 October 2025. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Jan Ziff, World Service journalist and award-winning co-author of the Heckerty series of children's picture books – obituary". The Telegraph. 22 March 2022. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 19 February 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  3. ^ a b Santiago, Waleska (8 October 2025). "Trisha Ziff Uses Film and Photography to Call for Peace". Free Speech Film Festival. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  4. ^ "Trisha Ziff-Meyer". Guggenheim Fellowships. Archived from the original on 19 December 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Manley, John (10 July 2025). "New Gerry Adams documentary reveals republican figurehead's 'humanity'". The Irish News. Archived from the original on 20 July 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  6. ^ Campbell, Duncan (2 June 2006). "Sorry Gerry. You're just not the right sort for Che's V&A party". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  7. ^ Gott, Richard (2 June 2006). "Poster boy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  8. ^ a b Ehrenreich, Ben (1 June 2008). "Viva La... Logo?". The Los Angeles Times. p. P3. Archived from the original on 25 December 2025. Retrieved 14 December 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b c d "Meet the DocuWeeks Filmmakers: Trisha Ziff--'The Mexican Suitcase'". International Documentary Association. Archived from the original on 23 October 2025. Retrieved 13 December 2025.
  10. ^ a b Young, James (26 October 2015). "Mexico: Up Next – Trisha Ziff". Variety. Archived from the original on 29 December 2025. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  11. ^ "Lista de ganadores de los Premios Ariel". El Universal. 28 May 2016. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  12. ^ a b ""Witkin and Witkin" -The wit of it all [MOVIE REVIEW]". Easy Reader News. 29 September 2021. Archived from the original on 6 November 2025. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Stream It Or Skip It: 'A Tale Of Two Kitchens', A Netflix Documentary Short About Sister Restaurants in Mexico City And San Francisco". Decider. 9 July 2019. Archived from the original on 19 May 2025. Retrieved 16 December 2025.
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