photo by Shah Zaman Baloch

Lauren Wolkstein is an award-winning narrative filmmaker and television director. She most recently directed two episodes each of the upcoming Amazon series THE BONDSMAN & OBSESSION (56 DAYS) to be released in 2025. Before that, she directed two episodes of the Rachel Weisz & Alice Birch remake of David Cronenberg’s DEAD RINGERS and the finale of Nick Antosca’s A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY for Peacock. She also served as the Producing Director for Season 5 of Ava DuVernay's critically acclaimed QUEEN SUGAR (helming a total of six episodes for the show), and she has directed episodes of FX’s Y: THE LAST MAN, Marvel's CLOAK & DAGGER, and USA's DARE ME. Her debut feature THE STRANGE ONES, starring Alex Pettyfer and James Freedson-Jackson, premiered to critical acclaim at SXSW '17 and was one of John Waters favorite films of the year. She co-directed the film with Christopher Radcliff, based on their Sundance short of the same name. Lauren’s previous shorts, including SOCIAL BUTTERFLY (Sundance ’13) and CIGARETTE CANDY (SXSW ’10 Grand Jury Prize), have played festivals around the world. Wolkstein is a MacDowell and Sundance Institute Fellow, and Filmmaker Magazine listed her as one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film." Lauren received her MFA in film directing from Columbia University.

FILMOGRAPHY

OBSESSION (56 DAYS) (2025) - coming soon

THE BONDSMAN (2025) - coming soon

DEAD RINGERS (2023)

A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY (2022)

Y: THE LAST MAN (2021)

QUEEN SUGAR (2021)

DARE ME (2020)

MARVEL’S CLOAK & DAGGER (2019)

QUEEN SUGAR (2018)

THE STRANGE ONES (2017)

COLLECTIVE:UNCONSCIOUS (2016)

SOCIAL BUTTERFLY (2013)

THE STRANGE ONES (2011) 

CIGARETTE CANDY (2009)

COMMERCIALS

SXSW BUMPERS (2012)

GUCCI (2011)