Aron Kantor is an award-winning director, producer, writer and artist recently featured in the 2024 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.
Throughout his career, Aron has been and remains committed to telling stories that center queer experience, lives, and characters. His films explore themes of queer dynamics, sexuality and gender identity through a lens of absurdity and dark humor.
Aron's extensive body of short-form work has been presented over 80 film festivals worldwide, as well as in contemporary art spaces.
He has been awarded grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission, SFFilm/Rainin Foundation, the Endeavor Foundation for the Arts, the Great Meadows Foundation, and a residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts in Marin, California. In 2023 Aron was selected for his first public art commission to create an experimental film for a large-scale video installation in a San Francisco city government building. He has also crafted title sequences for several feature films, and made his live-theater directing debut in 2021.
Aron is an alumni of the Sony Pictures Television's episodic directors program and Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab.
Aron is currently in development on his first feature film.
MUSEUMS & GALLERIES
2024 Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Biennial, New York, NY
2021 Yerba Buena Center For The Arts, San Francisco, CA
2018 San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2017 SOMArts, San Francisco, CA
2015 Glitterbomb / National Queer Arts Festival, San Francisco, CA
2014 Parson Hall Project Space, Holyoke, MA
2014 Vanity Project, NYC
2009 The Donnell Media Center - New York Public Library
GRANTS & COMMISSIONS
2023 City Of San Francisco - Public Art Commission - Video Installation
2019 Great Meadows Foundation - Artist Development Grant
2017 SFFilm / Kenneth Rainin Foundation - Narrative Feature Film Grant
2017 San Francisco Arts Commission - Individual Artist Commission
2015 Endeavor Foundation For The Arts – Artist Grant
RESIDENCIES & FELLOWSHIPS
2025 Film Independent Screenwriting Lab - Los Angeles, CA
2022 Sony Pictures Television's Diverse Directors Program - Los Angeles, CA
2021 Utah Presents at Kingsbury Hall - Theater Development Residency for Black Benatar's Black Magic Cabaret - Salt Lake City, UT
2018 Headlands Center For The Arts - Sausalito, CA
AWARDS
2022 London Fetish Film Festival - Retrospective & Best Director
2017 Cinekink Film Festival - Best Short Film for “Folsom Street”
2015 Slamdance Film Festival - Best Anarchy Short, for "Deviance"
2014 Bay Guardian "Best Of The Bay" - Best Bay Area Filmmaker
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS (abridged)
Austin Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Berlin Porn Film Festival
Berlin Insane
BFI – British Film Institute
Big Sur International Film Screening Series
Calgary Underground Film Festival
Chicago Underground Film Fest
CineKink Film Festival
Clermont-Ferrand International Film Fest
Cleveland International Film Festival
Copenhagen Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Edinburgh International Film Festival
Frameline
Glasgay Film Festival, Scotland
Granada International Short Film Festival
HomoCine Lisboa
Image Out Film Festival
IndieLisboa
Inside Out Toronto Film Festival
image+nation Film Festival, Montreal
Interfilm Berlin
KRATKOFIL Film Festival, Bosnia
Leeds International Film Festival
LesGaiCineMad, Madrid
London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Melbourne Queer Film Festival
Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Milan Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Mix Brazil
Mix NYC
Mix Mexico Festival
NewFest, NYC
New York Underground Film Festival
North Carolina Gay Film Festival
Norwegian Short Film Festival
Oslo Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Out in Africa Film Festival
Outfest
Outtakes Film Festival, New Zealand
Palm Springs Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Paris Gay and Lesbian FilmFest
Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Pink Screens Brussels
Queer City Cinema
Reeling Film Festival, Chicago
Rio de Janeiro ISFF
Rooftop Film Festival, NYC
Rozefilmdaggen, Amsterdam
San Francisco Underground Film Festival
Sao Paolo International Film Festival
Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival
Sitges International Film Festival
Skeive Filmer
Slamdance Film Festival
TekFestival, Rome
Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
Vancouver Queer Film Festival