Barbara Twist is a filmmaker and consultant based in Los Angeles. Her work includes producing, writing, post-production supervision, distribution, & exhibition strategies.
In addition to her producing work, she is the Associate Director of Film Festival Alliance, an international member organization of film festivals. She is the former Managing Director of the Art House Convergence, an international organization for the art house and independent theater community.
Her award-winning produced films have played at festivals including Austin Film Festival, Aspen ShortsFest, Atlanta Film Festival, NewFilmmakersNY, and IndieMemphis. Her most recent short film Bye Bye Body is a Vimeo Staff Pick with over 2mil views on YouTube. Her TV Pilot #NoFilter was a Second Rounder at the 2019 Austin Film Festival.
She was listed on Celluloid Junkie’s Top 50 Women in Global Cinema in 2017, featured in BoxOffice’s “Women in Exhibition and Distribution” October 2015, and has participated on many festival and conference panels on contemporary exhibition issues and distribution strategies. She is on the board of the Ann Arbor Film Festival and Cinema Lamont. She is a member of Detroit-based Final Girls: a women’s filmmaking collective and recipient of a 2016 Knight Foundation grant.
She has programmed films for festivals and series including Tales of Europe, Cinetopia Film Festival and the Carla Kuhn Speaker Series at Columbia University; served on the jury for festivals including Cleveland International Film Festival, Austin Film Festival and Denver Film Festival; and has sat on grant committees, including the NEA Media Arts Grants and the National YoungArts Foundation. She has been published in Box Office Magazine and Dear Producer, among others.
She has her B.A. in Screen Arts and Cultures from the University of Michigan, and her M.F.A. in Creative Producing from Columbia University.
Recent Events:
“Innovations in Exhibition,” Webinar, Dear Producer. Apr 2021.
“Non-Traditional Distribution Panel,” Telefilm Canada. Feb 2020.
Juror, American Indie Jury, Denver Film Festival. Nov 2019.
Teacher, “We Save 2 Film: Film Processing Workshop,” NYPL & AMIA. Oct 2019.
Second Rounder for TV Pilot #NoFilter, Austin Film Festival. Oct 2019.
Reviewer for Cinematic Arts, National YoungArts Foundation. Sep 2019.
