Telling Pictures

Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s partnership making non-fiction and feature films began in 1987 when they opened an office in a former convent and Catholic girl’s school in San Francisco and founded Telling Pictures. Their creative styles clicked and their films have since played in movie theaters, at festivals, and on television throughout the world. Between them they have received two Academy Awards, five Emmy Awards, three Peabodys, as well as Guggenheim and Rockefeller Fellowships. Their new film HOWL, starring James Franco, was the opening night film at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and is will be released by Oscilloscope Laboratories on September 24th.

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, thus beginning his filmmaking career. Rob quickly rose to co-director, along 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.

Rob’s next project was the Oscar-winning feature documentary The Times of Harvey Milk, which he conceived, directed, co-produced and co-edited. The film touched audiences immediately, becoming a festival sensation, and winning the Academy Award for Best Feature documentary as well as the New York Film Critics Award for Best Non-Fiction film of 1985.

Rob won his second Oscar for the documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, made with Jeffrey Friedman, with whom he started Telling Pictures in 1987. Rob's other films with Jeffrey include Where Are We?, The Celluloid Closet (Emmy Award for directing), and Paragraph 175 (Sundance Film Festival jury award for directing). 

In moving from documentary to dramatic narrative, Rob was the recipient of the American Film Institute Directing Intern Fellowship, on the 1991 Martha Coolidge film Rambling Rose, Starring Laura Dern, Robert Duvall, and Diane Ladd.

Rob and Jeff's new film Howl—their first dramatic narrative, featuring James Franco and a stellar cast—premiered at this year's Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals, and will be released on September 24th by Oscilloscope.

Rob’s work has been shown in theaters, on television, at festivals, and museums throughout the world, including retrospectives at the Institute for Contemporary Art in London and the Taiwan International Film Festival. 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 also been a visiting professor at the Graduate Film Program at Tisch School of the Arts/NYU. He currently serves on the board of the Yerba Buena Center of the Arts in San Francisco. Rob 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 is chair of the documentary branch.

Jeffrey began his career in New York City as an off-Broadway child actor. He began his film training in the editing rooms of such notable films as The Exorcist (1973), Raging Bull (1980) and the Oscar-winning documentary Marjoe (1972), apprenticing to some of the most highly respected filmmakers in the industry.

He began editing documentaries for television, and was associate editor on the 1983 feature film Never Cry Wolf, directed by Carroll Ballard. He first worked with Rob Epstein as a consultant on The Times of Harvey Milk, after which they decided to work together as a filmmaking team and formed Telling Pictures.  

Their feature films as co-director/producer/writers include Common Threads (Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature), The Celluloid Closet (Emmy Award for directing)—both of which Jeffrey also co-edited—and Paragraph 175 (Sundance Jury prize for directing). 

Their new film Howl—their first dramatic narrative—features James Franco leading a stellar cast. Howl premiered at this year's Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals, and will be released on September 24th by Oscilloscope.

In 2000 Jeffrey and Rob were honored with an achievement award by Outfest, the Los Angeles LGBT film festival. In 2009 they were Sundance Screenwriting Fellows with their screenplay for HOWL.

Jeffrey has taught filmmaking at California College of the Arts and in the graduate program at Stanford University. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.