Marika Bournaki is the beautiful and talented young, Canadian musician whose rise to fame has been captured in the documentary “I am Not A Rockstar”. Classically trained, Marika was identified at a very young age as a musical prodigy to watch. She caught the attention of the international media when at the age of 10 she played at the famed Carnegie Hall in NYC. Now in her 20’s her story has continued to unfold, carefully documented by Robbie and Bobbie Jo Hart. Together they have created, using the technique of cinema-verite, what Marika refers to as a diary of key parts of her life so far. Robbie Hart is an acclaimed and experienced documentary filmmaker with over 50 documentaries to his credit. He is the founder and president of Adobe Productions International. Director Bobbie Jo Hart has also won numerous filmmaking awards including ‘She Got Game: Behind the Scenes of the Women’s Tennis Tour’. She also runs Esperanto Productions Inc

The film follows strategic moments in Marika Bournaki’s life over a period of 8 years from the time she was 12 years old until we meet her now in her early 20’s. Marika looks at her music as a lot of work but a lot of fun. She feels it is a great time for classical music because of the new things we can enhance the experience with today. She is experimenting with multimedia for her concerts playing around with the piano, lighting, camera so that people can see things they could not normally see.

Award winning director Bobbie Jo Hart is no stranger to the world of documentary filmmaking. She made her first film in 1997 and has won acclaim for her film She Got Game: Behind the Scenes of the Women’s Tennis Tour. She also runs Esperanto Productions Inc.

Robbie Hart says to succeed as a doc filmmaker the story must come from within. A documentary is not usually something you are hired to do but something you are personally really passionate about. This story of a young and highly talented artist growing up held a special interest for them as filmmakers. Time does give stories depth and this was an adventure with an unknown outcome. The goal of the story was to see if this young prodigy would make it.

This is a touching, inspiring movie about a young woman who leaves us with a great sense of joy. The documentary was a favourite at HotDocs and will be shown at the inaugural Niagara Film Festival, NIFF in June.

Moira Romano