BIO
Ava Porter is a filmmaker, title designer, and multimedia artist based in Los Angeles. She received her MFA in Visual Arts from UC San Diego and her BA in Studio Art from UCLA. Her work, which spans documentary, narrative, and experimental cinema as well as video art, installation, and concert visuals, has been screened and exhibited internationally, including at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Getty Museum, The Palace Museum in Beijing, and SOAS University of London. She is a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship (2017), the MFJC Fellowship (2022), the Bruce Geller Memorial WORD Artist Prize (2018), and the UC Institute for Research in the Arts Grant (2015).
Her directorial debut, documentary feature Wild Honey (2019, co-director Farhad Akhmetov), won numerous awards and honors at international film festivals including Festival Images de Sons (2021), New Filmmakers LA (2021), and the Golden State Film Festival (2020). Other notable screenings include LACMA’s Migrant Sounds series (2022), Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (2019), and Eurasia International Film Festival (2019).
Additional recent credits include The Well (2024, director, DP & editor); The Institute (MGM+) Season 1 main titles (2025, designer, editor, and cinematographer), American Horror Story: Seasons 10-12 main titles (2021-2024, designer, editor & cinematographer); Atlas main titles (2024, editor, additional VFX); The Creator main titles (2023, editor, additional cinematography); From main titles (2022-2024, designer, editor, cinematographer); live video projections for the Chvrches 2021-2022 World Tour (editor, cinematographer); The Getty’s Art in LA Series short film series (2019-present, DP, editor); and Narcissister Organ Player (2018, cinematographer).
CV
AVA PORTER
LOS ANGELES, CA
WWW.AVAPORTER.COM
IMDB.ME/AVAPORTER
EDUCATION
2015 MFA, Visual Arts, University of California, San Diego, CA
2007 BA, Photography & New Media, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 2007
FILMOGRAPHY
2025 The Institute (Main Title). Designer, DP & Editor
2025 Lita Albuquerque: Dust to Dust (Documentary Short). DP & Editor
2024 The Well (Documentary Short). Director, DP & Editor
2024 Atlas (Main Title). Editor, Additional VFX (Designer/Creative Director Kyle
Cooper)
2024 Alison Saar: Found Spirit. DP & Editor (Dir. Ellen Moody)
2023 American Horror Story: Delicate (Main Title). Cinematographer & Editor
(Designer/Creative Director Kyle Cooper)
2023 The Creator (Main Title & In-Universe Commercial). Additional editor,
Cinematographer (Designer/Creative Director Kyle Cooper)
2023 San Cha: Deja que el Mundo se Prenda (Music Video). Director, DP, Editor
2023 Gala Porras-Kim: The Living Collection (Documentary Short). DP & Editor (Dir.
Ellen Moody)
2022 American Horror Story: NYC (Main Title). Cinematographer (Designer/Creative
Director Kyle Cooper)
2022 Fred Eversley: The Shape of Energy (Documentary Short). Editor (Dir. Rachel
Rivenc)
2022 FROM (Main Title). Designer, Cinematographer, Editor (Designer/Creative
Director Kyle Cooper)
2021 American Horror Story: Death Valley (Main Title), Cinematographer, Additional
Editor (Designer/Creative Director Kyle Cooper)
2021 American Horror Story: Red Tide (Main Title), Cinematographer
(Designer/Creative Director Kyle Cooper)
2021 Chvrches 2021-2022 Screen Violence World Tour (Live Video Projections),
Cinematographer, Editor
2020 Cai Quo-Quiang: Making A Gunpowder Drawing (Documentary Short). Editor
(Dir. Rachel Rivenc)
2019 Wild Honey (Documentary Feature). Director, Producer, DP & Editor
2019 Laura Owens: The Materiality of Abstraction (Documentary Short). Editor (Dir.
Rachel Rivenc)
2018 Organ Player (Documentary Feature). Cinematographer (Dir. Narcissister)
2016 Trashy (Experimental Short Film). Director, DP, Editor
2016 Where the Snowy River Runs (Music Video). Director, DP, Editor
2015 Role (Single-Channel Video Installation/Performance Film). Director, Editor
2014 Soldier (8-Channel Video/Experimental Film), Director, DP, Editor
2014 SLAUGHTER (2-Channel Video/Multimedia Installation), Director,
DP, Performer, Painter
2014 Lost (Experimental Short), Director, Editor
2013 Love Walked In (Short Film), Director, DP, Editor
2012 i exist for you (Multi-Channel Video Installation), Director, DP,
Costume designer, Performer
2012 Ima (Single Channel Video Installation), Director, DP
2011 The Vessel (3-Channel Video Installation), Director, DP, Performer
SELECTED SCREENINGS
2025 The Well. Official Selection, Ethnografilm Paris, France
2025 Lita Albuquerque: Dust to Dust. Screening and Artist Q&A, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2024 The Well. Official Selection, Moscow Jewish Film Festival, Russia
2024 Alison Saar: Found Spirit. Screening and Artist Q&A, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2024 The Well. Official Selection, Culver City Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
2024 Gala Porras-Kim: The Living Collection. Screening and Artist Q&A, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2022 Wild Honey. Special Screening, LACMA x Migrant Sounds Film Series, Los
Angeles, CA
2022 Fred Eversley: The Shape of Energy. Screening and Artist Q&A, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2021 Wild Honey. (WINNER Best Sound) Festival Images de Sons Lyon, France
2021 Wild Honey. (Nominated Best Documentary), Budapest Independent Film Festival,
Hungary
2021 Wild Honey. Official Selection, Interdoc, Russia
2020 Wild Honey. (Nominated Best Documentary, Nominated Best Editing),
NewFilmmakers LA, Los Angeles
2020 Wild Honey. Official Selection, FIDBA International Film Festival of Buenos Aires,
Argentina
2020 Wild Honey. Official Selection, World Music Expo, Prague, Czech Republic
2020 Wild Honey. (WINNER Best Score). Golden State Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
2020 Wild Honey. Special screening at the SOAS University of London, UK, 22 February
2019 Wild Honey. Official Selection, Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Arkansas
2019 Wild Honey. Official Selection, Eurasia International Film Festival, Kazakhstan
2019 Wild Honey. Doc Market, Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Greece
2019 Wild Honey. Media Library, Visions du Réel Festival, Switzerland
2015 Role. International Festival of Video Art, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2014 Soldier (Collaborator Yvette Jackson). ArtPower! Filmatic Festival, San Diego
2014 Love Walked In. Moving Images: A Screening of Time-Based Work, San Diego
2013 Lost. Glottalopticon, Space4Art, San Diego
2013 i exist for you. Los Angeles Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
2013 Love Walked In. Underrepresented: A Film Series, El Camino College, Compton, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2015 The Wrestlers. Visual Arts Gallery, University of California, San Diego, CA
2014 Soldier: Recruit. Wa/So (Collaborator Yvette Jackson). Calit2, La Jolla, CA
2013 SLAUGHTER. Visual Arts Gallery, University of California, San Diego, CA
2013 Invisible. Space4Art, San Diego, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014 GLAMFA 2014, School of Art, CSU Long Beach, CA
2014 Mux Demux, Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles, CA
2014 Elective Affinities, University Art Gallery, University of California, San Diego, CA
2013 State of the Arts, EQ Studios, San Diego, CA
AWARDS & HONORS
2021 MFJC Fellowship. Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, New York, NY
2017 Fulbright Documentary Filmmaking Fellowship. Fulbright Program, Washington, DC
2017 Bruce Gellar Memorial WORD Prize. American Jewish University, Los Angeles, CA
2014 University of California Institute for Research in the Arts Grant. Santa Barbara, CA
2014 IDEAS Award. The Qualcomm Institute, San Diego, CA
SELECTED TEACHING
2024 Lecturer, Fiction & Allegory in Cinema, UCSD Department of Visual Arts
2024 Lecturer, Digital Photography, UCSD Visual Arts Department
2021 Lecturer, Editing Theory & Production, UCSD Department of Visual Arts
2021 Lecturer, Fiction & Allegory in Cinema, UCSD Department of Visual Arts
2020 Lecturer, Documentary Practices, UCSD Department of Visual Arts
2020 Lecturer, Photographic Strategies, UCSD Department of Visual Arts
2019 Lecturer, Digital Cinema Theory & Practice, UCSD Department of Visual Art
2019 Lecturer, Analogue Futures, UCSD Visual Arts Department
2018 Lecturer, Digital Cinema Theory & Practice, UCSD Department of Visual Art
2018 Lecturer, Digital Photography, UCSD Visual Arts Department,
2016 Lecturer, Hard Look at the Movies, UCSD Visual Arts Department of Visual Arts
2015 Lecturer, Fantasy in Film, UCSD Visual Arts Department of Visual Arts
RELATED PROFESSIONAL WORK
2021-Present Freelance Editor, Director, Cinematographer & Title Designer, Fifth Corner Films,
Los Angeles, CA
2019-Present Freelance Editor & Cinematographer (Art In LA Short Film Series), The Getty Trust,
Los Angeles, CA
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MovieMaker Magazine. Stage 5: Ava Porter & Farhad Akhmetov. YouTube, 28 mins. Feb 5, 2021
Filmmaker Magazine. DP Ava Porter on Narcissister Organ Player. January 27, 2018