A story often begins long before the camera is lifted, in the serendipitous moments when a filmmaker learns to observe the world. For Oana Liana Martisca, that instinct emerged in the realms of creative writing, long-form journalism, and a visceral curiosity that led her across continents before her career had even begun. Martisca's creative expression has been informed by her affinity for staying inside a moment rather than around it.
"There's a lot of joy I get in immersing myself fearlessly in situations and in people. That's why I'm drawn to the vérité style of storytelling," she explains. "To me, that personally holds more authenticity than constructed narrative filmmaking." That perspective now defines her work as a journalist and filmmaker whose latest project, News Without a Newsroom, which premiered at the 42nd Miami Film Festival, probes the shifting foundations of an industry built on truth.
Martisca's path has been as dynamic as the narratives she portrays. From an early life in Romania to living across Europe and South America, she immersed herself in communities far removed from the familiar. She highlights that her time traipsing through the Amazon rainforest, a journey inspired by a 1982 epic behind-the-scenes film outlining the making of Fitzcarraldo, offered more than adventures. It revealed how stories are carried, through people, through ritual, through daily life, and what can be lost when those stories disappear.
She worked closely with indigenous communities, learned new ways of perceiving the world, and gained the kind of lived experience that, she insists, does not fade. "Not many people can say they've lived in the Amazon jungle," she says. "I think such experiences have really defined who I am today."
Before venturing into film, she was writing. With her background in literary journalism and her fervent passion for reporting with integrity and honesty, she often favored working directly behind the camera, engaging closely with subjects, and prioritizing authenticity over polish. Her studies in the discipline of photojournalism and documentary further honed her skills and technique. Yet her real training, she emphasizes, came through a project she thought would be a short assignment and instead became the center of her filmmaking trajectory.
The origin of News Without a Newsroom can be traced to a documentary-narrative class assignment. "Each student drew a prompt, and mine happened to be politics, which I originally wasn't into," she says. "I was apolitical, but I decided to challenge myself."
She was paired with a political reporter from a Miami-based newspaper company and began to document a story visually, without words. During her on-field assignment, it was revealed to her that the newspaper company no longer had a physical newsroom. "After the COVID-19 pandemic, the building was gone, and journalists were scattered, working from home and screens. Relationships were fractured, and collaborations had weakened," she recalls. "That really impacted me. I felt I wanted to give a voice to these people who embodied that spirit of old-school journalism. To highlight their values, their camaraderie, their mentorship."
Her short film became a 17-minute project. But the more she filmed, the more she realized the story was bigger than a lost building. In her view, journalism itself was changing, its business framework, its public trust, its fight against misinformation and bias, and especially now, its collision with AI and the expansive digital age. She expanded the work into a feature-length documentary examining how, according to her, an institution designed to protect the public is being reshaped in real time.
Martisca notes that the reaction to the film has been its own reward. She claims members of the journalistic community have expressed gratitude and recognition. "I never thought I was doing something extraordinary," she says. "But hearing people express their gratitude that I found the courage to do this and allowing them to reflect on the places they worked that don't exist anymore, that felt significant."
While her upcoming projects remain under wraps, she continues to develop shorts, documentaries, and narrative pieces, including a fictionalized work inspired by her time in the Amazon. She hopes for News Without a Newsroom to reach wider audiences through major streaming platforms, not for prestige but for impact. "My hope is that viewers, journalists, students, activists, or anyone navigating the modern media landscape can watch the film and realize what is at stake when institutions that uphold value can disappear," she says.
Oana Liana Martisca's work remains rooted in authenticity, human connection, and a belief that visual storytelling can preserve narratives that might otherwise fade into silence. Her career, still unfolding, is guided by a powerful instinct: to capture the stories that define the vulnerability of humans, before they disappear.
