Business of Film

Travel Filmmaking: Best Tips For Making Movies Around The World – Marlin Darrah [FULL INTERVIEW]

Filmcourage

Published

February 6, 2026

[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]

The Core Definition

Film Courage: Marlin, what does it mean to you to be a filmmaker?

Marlin Darrah, Filmmaker: To be a filmmaker is to be a storyteller, number one.

This has been going on since people huddled around fires thousands of years ago.

Purpose and Responsibility

To be a filmmaker can be part responsibility if you’re doing a movie with a social theme to it or it can be pure entertainment or it can be a variety of both.

Personal History and Longevity

So, as a filmmaker, it’s just an obsession really.

It’s something I’ve been doing since I was 13 years old.

It’s been over 50 years of trying to tell stories to, I guess, entertain myself first and then to also hopefully get it in front of as many people as possible to see your story.

Origins and the “Magic”

That’s as a filmmaker, I love all the steps of making a film.

I started as a musician, playing piano and flute and so I

wanted to kind of continue on with music.

When I was 13, I started making films in the backyard and haven’t looked back since then.

There’s something about it that was kind of a magic process in a way to be able to get a little story, even if it’s three minutes when you first start, get a little story and show it to your family and friends and then you start winning awards and it becomes a lifestyle.

It’s become an obsession.

The Requirement of Obsession

As I was mentioning before, I think most filmmakers are obsessed people.

You have to be to get through a film because it takes a lot of your life, a lot of your life energy.

The Synthesis of Skills

You bring together all of your skills be it with music with photography, with the editing, with the actors and certainly with a story…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).

About:

Marlin Darrah is probably the world’s most traveled filmmaker. Darrah’s ‘s 44 years of award-winning production experience have taken him to more than 140 countries worldwide, yielding more than 100 documentary, travel-adventure programs and dramatic movies to date.

In 2023, Darrah completed his third feature film “An Egypt Affair,” an award-winning suspense-thriller that was entirely filmed in Egypt, along the Nile River between Luxor and Aswan.

One of his more recent feature films is “Amazon Queen” – an 85-minute adventure-thriller shot entirely in the Brazilian Amazon. The film was completed in September 2021 and is presently being distributed throughout N.America and worldwide, by Vision Films of LA. “Amazon Queen” has enjoyed millions of views on streaming platforms worldwide. That film won awards and nominations at more than 100 international film festivals.

Marlin also wrote, directed and produced the acclaimed 90-minute dramatic feature film, “Monsoon Wife,” in Cambodia – the first American movie shot entirely in that SE Asian country since “Lord Jim.” Universal Studios acquired Darrah’s movie and television rights were sold to more than a dozen countries.

In September 2014, Darrah was honored with a Knighthood in the Royal House of Portugal, presented by His Royal Highness Dom Pio. This was in recognition of Darrah’s extensive worldwide educational and charitable film productions Darrah’s international shots have been aired on programs appearing on all the major television networks, including PBS, History Channel and Discovery Channel.

His twenty 90-minute geo-travel lectures and features have been presented to audiences in more than 100 theaters and auditoriums across America, including venues such as the Harvard Club and the Philadelphia Geographical Society. Recently, a two-hour documentary Darrah shot and directed in Egypt was screened at the Cairo Opera House to an audience of 3000 guests. National Geographic represents and markets thousands of Darrah’s best worldwide shots.