Short film, Directed & co-written, 2026
When two burned out roommates in their early 20s, numbed by debt, doom scrolling, and dead end jobs, hear an irresistible song leaking through their apartment door, they step outside and spark a spontaneous dance wave that jolts Bonita Springs out of its digital coma and back into real world joy.
TV Series, Co-writer & Co-executive Producer, 2025
Broken, jobless and lost, Jimmy inherits a crumbling bar. Little does he know that saving it might just save him too.
Documentary Short, Directed, 2025
A portrait of two working artists in Southwest Florida, this short documentary invites them to speak frankly about why they make art, how they survive, and what creativity means in a changing world. In their studios and in conversation, they reveal the doubts, joys, and resilience behind the work the public only sees finished on the wall.
Short film, Co-writer, 2024
Father Nose Best is a comedic short about Leonard, a dentist reluctant to embrace his clown heritage until the love of his life, his hygienist Samantha, gets infected with the Non-Laughing virus, which is causing the world to stop laughing. He will have to return to his clowning roots to find the cure and not only save Samantha but also the world.
Earlier work
Current projects
What's shooting, writing, rehearsing or premiering this week, straight from my Facebook page.
Prototype, SaaS app, Built with AI
A film production hub I built to wrangle the chaos of an indie shoot, call sheets, cast & crew, schedules, locations, and notes, all in one place. It's a working prototype, free for testers, and I'd love your feedback.
From the desk
Weekly notes on technology, the arts, and the human experience, straight from my Substack.
About
Marilu Garbi is a Venezuelan-born filmmaker, journalist, and essayist.
She has acted in, produced, or directed several short films, including Thinking Out Loud (2017), Roses Are Blind (2018), In Tango (2019), Father Nose Best (2024), Oblivious (2024), Dine and Dash (2024), the documentary Artists Speak (2025), the sitcom Jimmy on the Rocks (2025), and Whisper of Joy (2026). She serves on the board of UFTA (United Film and Television Artists), a non-profit that has supported performers, writers, models, and filmmakers in Southwest Florida for more than two decades.
She holds a Bachelor's in Journalism from the Universidad Central de Venezuela and an Associate of Applied Science in Film and TV Production. After two decades running G&H Printing in Southwest Florida, she returned full-time to her first training in journalism, now deepened by her passion for filmmaking.
Her work, on screen and on Substack, circles around technology, the arts, and the human experience in a rapidly changing culture, as well as philosophy and her attempts to live a contemplative life as an immigrant and mother.
