Lauren Wolkstein

Lauren Wolkstein is an American film director, writer, and editor. In 2013, she was named one of the "25 New Faces of Independent Film" in Filmmaker magazine.

Wolkstein was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University, where she also won the Duke Filmmaker Award. In 2010, she graduated in film directing from Columbia University (MFA).

She was selected as one of the top twenty-five emerging filmmakers by The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Independent Filmmaker Project’s inaugural Emerging Visions program at New York Film Festival in 2011.

Lauren's thesis film at Columbia University, Cigarette Candy, won several awardsincluding:

• The Adrienne Shelly Award for Best Female Director
• Plum Pictures Most Promising Filmmaker Award
• Best Narrative Short at South by Southwest (SXSW)
• Best Student Live Action Short Under Fifteen Minutes & Most Promising Student Filmmaker, Special Mention Palm Springs International ShortFest

Cigarette Candy has also been broadcast on France 2, the French TV channel.

Lauren's next short film, The Strange Ones (aka Deux Inconnus), co-directed with Christopher Radcliff, and produced by a French production company ADASTRA Films, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festivaland it has since been selected for more than a hundred other film festivals, such as:

• Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival
• South by Southwest
• Melbourne International Film Festival
• Chicago International Film Festival
• San Francisco International Film Festival
• Woodstock Film Festival

The film won several awards in international film festivals including:

• Best Narrative Short Award and Golden Starfish Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival
• Best Narrative Short Award at the Atlanta Film Festival
• Special Jury Award at the Filmets Baladona Film Festival
• Revelation Award at the Brest European Short Film Festival

The Strange Ones has been broadcast on the main French TV channel France 2.

Wolkstein's latest film Social Butterfly, produced by ADASTRA Films and shot in South of France in 2012, has premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The film received an Award at the Oak Cliff Film Fest for the Best Narrative Short. and was selected for several other festivals, such as :

• South by Southwest (SXSW)
• Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films
• Atlanta Film Festival
• Curtas Vila do Conde
• Independent Film Festival of Boston
• Maryland Film Festival

• http://www.filmlinc.com/press/entry/film-society-and-ifp-announce-emerging-visions-to-run-concurrent-with-the-n
• http://www.indiewire.com/article/ifp_and_fslcs_emerging_visions_programme_announced
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1378642/awards?ref_=tt_awd
• http://www.adrienneshellyfoundation.org/recipients/news,page~23
• http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2171388/bio
• http://womenincinema.blogspot.fr/2013/02/2013-women-in-cinema-sxsw-panel.html
• http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1378642/news?year=2009
• http://www.france2.fr/emissions/histoires-courtes/ce-soir_54797
• http://adastra-films.com/fiche_film-en.php?idf=4
• http://history.sundance.org/films/6885/the_strange_ones
• http://www.adastra-films.com/fiche_film-en.php?idf=4
• http://www.clermont-filmfest.com/index.php?m=21&c=3&id_film=200017382&o=107
• http://schedule.sxsw.com/2011/events/event_FS11301
• http://miff.com.au/festival-archive/film/24469
• http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/films_and_schedule/movie.php?show=the_strange_ones
• http://fest11.sffs.org/films/film_details.php?id=46
• http://www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/festival2011/details.php?id=23111
• http://arts.columbia.edu/columbia-sweeps-hamptons-international-film-festival
• http://www.atlantafilmfestival.com/grand-jury-winners/
• http://www.festivalfilmets.cat/cat/z-noticia-16.html
• http://www.filmcourt.fr/Palmares-2011-5531-0-0-0.html
• http://www.tnt-satellite.com/programme-tv/france-2/07-11-2011.html
• http://adastra-films.com/fiche_film-en.php?idf=4
• http://filmguide.sundance.org/film/13179/social_butterfly
• http://filmoakcliff.tumblr.com/
• http://www.sxsw.com/social-butterfly-sxsw-2013-accepted-film
• http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=24546&FID=68
• http://prod3.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=51818~2a335ea2-4042-4734-a077-ee9550e51dc0&
• http://festival.curtas.pt/search/film-en-US/?id=2013132
• http://prod1.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=56538~05cb9704-bfe5-4d73-aeb6-44c19bbac1a2&
• http://www.md-filmfest.com/festival/film-guide/58

In 2013, Lauren is developing a feature film, based on her short Cigarette Candy. It has participated in Independent Feature Project (IFP) Emerging Narrative and No Borders International Co-Production Market. She also has several other feature films in development. A feature version of The Strange Ones (aka Deux Inconnus) she is working on with Christopher Radcliff, has been selected for the Independent Film Week Project Forum produced by Independent Feature Project in the Emerging Storytellers category.

Besides her narrative film work, Lauren has also directed commercials for Gucciand edited several ads for brands such as Juicy Couture, Dickies, and Diet Coke.

Director

• 2009: Cigarette Candy
• 2011: The Strange Ones
• 2013: Social Butterfly

• http://www.cigarettecandy.com/
• http://www.thestrangeones.com/
• http://socialbutterflyfilm.com/