Robert P. Epstein (born April 6, 1955), is an American director, producer, writer, and editor. He is known for directing numerous documentaries, several of them focusing on the

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

community and has won two

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

, two

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

, and a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

. Epstein won the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature The Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film is an award for documentary films. In 1941, the first awards for feature-length documentaries were bestowed as Academy Honorary Award, Special Awards to ''Kukan'' and ''Target for Tonight''. The ...

twice for the films '' The Times of Harvey Milk'' (1984) and '' Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt'' (1989). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film for '' End Game'' (2018). He also directed the documentaries '' Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives'' (1977), ''

The AIDS Show ''The AIDS Show'' (''Artists Involved with Death and Survival)'' is a 1984 American collaboratively written theatre piece created to address the social impact HIV/AIDS had on the LGBTQ community. A 1986 documentary film of the same name was deve ...

'' (1986), '' The Celluloid Closet'' (1996), and ''

Paragraph 175 Paragraph 175, known formally a§175 StGBand also referred to as Section 175 in English language, English, was a provision of the Strafgesetzbuch, German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It Criminalization of homosexuality, mad ...

'' (2000). He made his narrative directorial film debut with the historical drama ''

Howl Howl most often refers to: * Howling, an animal vocalization in many canine species * "Howl" (poem), a 1956 poem by Allen Ginsberg Howl or The Howl may also refer to: Film * '' The Howl'', a 1970 Italian film * ''Howl'' (2010 film), a 2010 Am ...

'' (2010) followed by '' Lovelace'' (2013).

Career

In 1987, Epstein and his filmmaking partner Jeffrey Friedman founded Telling Pictures, a production company that focused on feature documentaries. Epstein's works also include scripted narratives such as ''

'', his award-winning film about

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

's controversial poem by the same name (starring

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...

), and '' Lovelace'', the story about the life and trials of pornographic superstar Linda Lovelace (starring Amanda Seyfried).

Personal life

Epstein is the co-chair of the Film Program at

California College of the Arts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in ...

in San Francisco and Oakland, California. He is gay.

Filmography

Narrative films

Documentaries

Television

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Epstein, Rob 1955 births Living people Film directors from New Jersey Film producers from New Jersey Directors of Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners GLAAD Media Awards winners Grammy Award winners News & Documentary Emmy Award winners LGBTQ people from New Jersey American LGBTQ film directors People from New Brunswick, New Jersey