Rob Epstein  

After taking a bus from New York City to San Francisco at age 19, Rob Epstein answered a classified ad seeking a production assistant on a documentary in early development and met his mentor Peter Adair, thus beginning his filmmaking career. Rob quickly rose to co-director, with the other members of the Mariposa Film Group. The film became the landmark documentary WORD IS OUT, released in theaters in 1977, and recently restored for DVD.

In addition to his Oscars for THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK and COMMON THREADS, Rob has received several Peabody and Emmy Awards, and Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowships. In 2008, Rob was recognized with the Pioneer Award from the International Documentary Association for distinguished lifetime achievement. He has also received achievement awards from Frameline (1990) and Outfest (2000). Rob and Jeffrey were Sundance Screenwriting Fellows in 2009 with the screenplay for HOWL.

In addition to his filmmaking career, Rob is a professor at California College of the Arts, where he also serves as chair of the Film program. He has been a visiting professor at the Graduate Film Program at Tisch School of the Arts/NYU. He currently serves on the Sundance Institute's Board of Trustees as well as the board of the Yerba Buena Center of the Arts in San Francisco. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, where he currently serves on the Board of Governors and chairs the Documentary Branch. (8/14)