Leo Kinsler is a filmmaker and writer whose films imagine expansive worlds for disabled, trans and queer characters. They often play with fantasy, sci-fi and mystery genres, allowing them to “invent elaborate lies to describe reality,” as Ursula K. Le Guin said.

Leo has an MFA in Film from UT Austin where they subsequently taught filmmaking to undergraduates. Their short films have screened at SXSW, Locarno Film Festival, Hot Springs Documentary Festival, on PBS, and they are a recipient of an Austin Film Society Grant.

They have participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus with a short film and the Austin Film Society Feature Film Intensive where they were mentored by filmmakers Athina Rachel Tsangari and Richard Linklater. They recently completed a writer’s residency at Monson Arts in Maine.

Leo currently lives in Los Angeles where they spend their free time writing well, painting mediocrely and laying still in their favorite parks. They imagine a future of making and consuming art that is weird, fresh and makes the world feel hopeful.