MARINA WATSON

Marina Watson is a journalist and documentary producer whose work has long focused on exploring the depths of the human condition. Raised between the UK and Spain and fluent in multiple languages, she crafts evocative narratives with universal resonance. Her work, featured in leading global publications such as TIME, Thomson Reuters, and the Financial Times, is grounded in intimate interviews and thoughtful insights into personal and collective experiences.

Thirty years after the Beatle was gunned down in New York, Yoko Ono has granted Beatles biographer Hunter Davies permission to publish The Lennon Letters, a collection of more than 100 of his letters and postcards.

First book of John Lennon’s letters to be published

TIME magazine

The New Humanitarian

Trump’s ban on the citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. threw lives into chaos. 

‘It is Scary to See How the World Can Change in One Night’

After a Cuban dissident, Juan Wilfredo Soto, 46, was arrested at a Santa Clara protest, he was allegedly beaten to death. Soto was among those who supported a 134-day hunger strike by fellow dissident Guillermo Farinas to press for the release of political prisoners.

Did Cuba skew the cause of a dissident’s death?

TIME magazine

The artist’s religiously inspired works, on show at the Cascais museum devoted to her, hand power to women.

Paula Rego’s dazzling and radical visions

Financial Times

In Solitude – Quietude – Contemplation Kander revisits miniature figures from his childhood in a meditation on the state of the world

Solitary figures: Nadav Kander

British Journal of Photography

After winning several auditions, including for a Madonna video, Aquila Correia was close to realising her dreams in Portugal, after relying on sex work to survive as a transgender migrant. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and Correia was evicted, despite a government ban on the eviction of cash-strapped tenants.

Big Witches' survive eviction, become music stars

Thomson Reuters Foundation

Reflecting on the Magnum Photographer's lesser known works in colour

René Burri’s colour works

Magnum Photos

In the late 1960s, the U.S. was faced with drug related crimes and hundreds of deaths from heroin overdoses. This led to harsh punishment as opposed to rehabilitation. But it didn’t work. The number of people incarcerated has continued to rise, and so have deaths from overdoses, exceeding 59,000 in 2016.

Want to know how Portugal won its War on Drugs? It ended it

The Globe Post

“Microdoses” of Psychedelic Drugs Could Cure Depression

The Globe Post

A promising new study by Robin Carhart-Harris from Imperial College London, has found that taking small doses of psilocybin, a psychedelic drug found in “magic mushrooms” could “reboot” the brain of depressed people who don’t respond to conventional treatments.

On a Sunday in August in Galicia, northern Spain, a 41-year-old man named José Enrique Abuín, also known as “El Chicle” or “Chikilín,” told his wife that he was going out to steal some diesel. At around 2am, he forced 18-year-old Diana Quer into his car and murdered her. The investigation into this case, which is still underway, has sparked a debate on the country’s long-standing problem of machismo, forcing Spain to rethink what gender violence means.

Spain Targets Male Attitudes in Fight Against Gender Violence

The Globe Post

“Surprise always operates within me. So let us hope that something comes along to surprise me soon”

Q&A: Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide 

British Journal of Photography

How to win a war on drugs

The New York Times

Contributed to one of The New York Times’ most powerful pieces on drug policy reform, working with two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof as a field producer and interpreter to produce a high-impact story on Portugal's pioneering drug decriminalisation policy. From active heroin users to public health outreach workers, I secured high-trust interviews that brought depth and humanity to the piece. 

The Diamond

The New Yorker

An award-winning short film featured in The New Yorker. My work involved scouting environments that could visually reflect the protagonist Stefan’s loneliness and existential struggle, from the solitary bin-strewn alley to the mysterious forest where a gleaming diamond changes his fate. Each location enhanced the film’s blend of magical realism and bleak humor.

The Xavega Fishermen

Culture Trip

Produced and directed this micro documentary exploring the unique fishing tradition of this coastal community, capturing the rich cultural heritage and everyday life of the Xávega fishermen through Mario’s perspective, commissioned by Culture Trip. 

Day in the Life of Uber drivers and couriers

Harriman Steel for Uber

I worked as Lead Interviewer and Field Producer on a series of branded content videos for Uber, filmed in Lisbon and Madrid. The series explored the daily routines and personal stories of local drivers and couriers, offering an authentic look into their lives and experiences within their cities.

 I conceived the title for The Spy Who Wouldn't Lie and researched the moving story of a courageous British resistance agent in Nazi-occupied France, a skilled radio operator whose mission ultimately led to her capture by the Gestapo.