Pureland Pictures

BIO

Emily has been making films for 25 years and has a strong reputation for taking on delicate subject matter with skill and diplomacy. She is an ambidextrous filmmaker who is equally passionate about narrative and documentary filmmaking with extensive experience in both formats as a writer, director, producer and cinematographer. Emily believes films are a powerful tool for social change and loves to collaborate with fellow storytellers.

 
 

EMILY ABT – WRITER/DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/CINEMATOGRAPHER

Selected as one of Variety Magazine's 'Top 10 Directors to Watch', Emily Abt is an ambidextrous filmmaker who has directed six feature films - two narratives and four documentaries. Known for her commitment to social issue filmmaking, she takes on delicate subject matter with skill and diplomacy. Emily is also a seasoned documentary cinematographer and branded content director who has created films for clients such as 23andMe, Microsoft, Janssen, Pfizer and Oracle.

Abt's first narrative feature "Toe to Toe" was nominated for the Grand Jury Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and released by Strand. Abt's next fiction feature project "Thirsty" won the Athena Award and stars Jamie Neumann, Sung Kang, Tyler Lepley, Kyra Sedgwick, Thora Birch and Brandee Evans. “Thirsty” will be released worldwide by Gravitas Ventures in June 2025.

Abt's first feature documentary "Take It From Me" (PBS's POV series) was created when she was a 23 year-old caseworker in New York City. She then went on to receive her MFA in film directing from Columbia University and was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to make her thesis film. Abt's other feature documentaries include "All Of Us" (Showtime's 2008 World AIDs Day film) and "Daddy Don't Go" which was executive produced by the actors/activists Omar Epps and Malik Yoba. The film won eight "Best Documentary" awards and premiered on the Starz network in 2017. In 2018 Abt was tapped by Showtime to direct the feature documentary feature "Beyond the Opposite Sex" about two transgender people living in rural America. It premiered on the network in Spring 2018. In 2019, Emily shot and directed the short film "Born A Fighter" which was commissioned by 23andMe and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

In 2020 Abt was hired by "Sorry to Bother You" producer George Rush to co-write the feature comedy “Unborn". From 2020-2021 Abt served as a Consulting Producer on the Amazon Studios and Emmy award-winning documentary "Wildcat" and is currently editing the forthcoming feature documentary "Transcending Ellenville".

The following foundations have supported Abt's work: The US-UK Fulbright Commission, New York State Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Independent Feature Project, Adrienne Shelley Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Paul Robeson Fund, Open Meadows, Yip Harburg Foundation, Princeton University Lewis Center for the Arts, Weickart Family Foundation and the Barbara Lee Family Foundation.

Abt was a Brooklyn based filmmaker for 20 years before she moved to the Bay Area in 2016 with her husband (UC Berkeley Professor Shamik Dasgupta) and their two daughters. She is a member of New Day Films, the Bay Area Women Directors' Collective and the Collective of Documentary Women Cinematographers.