Rob Epstein

Rob Epstein is an Academy Award-winning director and producer known for influential documentaries such as "The Times of Harvey Milk," "The Celluloid Closet," and "Paragraph 175." After moving to San Francisco at a young age, he began his career in documentary filmmaking, co-directing "Word Is Out," a landmark film on LGBTQ+ lives. He achieved major acclaim with "The Times of Harvey Milk," which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and was later selected for the National Film Registry. Collaborating frequently with partner Jeffrey Friedman, Epstein earned a second Oscar for "Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt" and continued to produce acclaimed works spanning documentary and narrative film, including "Howl" and "Lovelace." Over his career, his films have screened worldwide and earned numerous honors, including multiple Emmy and Peabody Awards, while he has also contributed to film education as a professor at the California College of the Arts and served on boards such as the Sundance Institute.