Asher Jelinsky is a Los Angeles based director and writer originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. Their latest film MILLER & SON was shortlisted for the 92nd Academy Awards and won the gold medal Student Academy Award, the BAFTA Student Film Award, and the Cannes Lions Young Director Award. Asher’s short films have garnered awards and nominations at over 70 film festivals around the world including Clermont-Ferrand, BFI London, and Palm Springs among others. Asher earned an MFA in Directing at the American Film Institute, and received the Franklin J. Schaffner Fellow Award for Directing, presented by AFI Fest. They also hold a BA with honors in Media Studies and Public Health from Pitzer College. Asher’s perspective as a nonbinary filmmaker fuels a passion for character-driven stories about outsiders, the resilient quest for identity, and the nuances of human connection. They are currently developing their first feature, JULIAN, which received the SFFILM Rainin Grant.