Andrew Abrahams

President of Open Eye Pictures, Andrew (also credited as Andy Abrahams Wilson) is an award winning, two-time Academy Award shortlisted producer/director of creative non-fiction films. He is also a cinematographer and photographer. Andrew studied at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism and USC's School of Cinema, ultimately receiving a master's degree in Visual Anthropology. His approach emphasizes visual imagery as a way to bridge disparate parts, peoples and ideas. While his work takes on controversial themes, he uses the filmmaking process as an opportunity to encourage compassion and action. His most recent production AMERICAN JUSTICE ON TRIAL: PEOPLE V. NEWTON was Oscar shortlisted and won nine top awards including Best Short Documentary at the Pan African Film Festival. ALFREDO'S FIRE (IL FUOCO DI ALFREDO) premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and received a CINE Best Independent Documentary jury award. The ITVS-funded THE GROVE was broadcast nationally on PBS and was awarded Best Documentary at the Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. Released theatrically, his acclaimed UNDER OUR SKIN was the recipient of seven best documentary awards at international film festivals and was an Academy Award semifinalist for Best Documentary Feature. The sequel, UNDER OUR SKIN 2: EMERGENCE received top honors from the National Health Information Association. Andrew's previous films have garnered numerous awards and been shown on HBO, PBS, CBC, the Showtime Networks, and in theaters and film festivals worldwide. A recipient of a Pew Charitable Trust Fellowship in Dance/Media, he is the two-time Grand Prize recipient at the Dance on Camera Film Festival. Andrew is a past budget director of the film distribution cooperative New Day Films, board director of the Jewish Film Institute, and member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He has been recognized by the Northern California Marin Arts Council as Outstanding Artist, and by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences with honors for Outstanding Documentary Achievement. He has received numerous foundation grants, including the California Council for the Humanities, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Laurance Rockefeller Foundation, the Columbia Foundation, the Wells Fargo Foundation and the Educational Foundation of America. In addition to making films, Andrew teaches unique film and photo workshops, including Intimacy & Exposure: The Alchemy of Photography at the renowned Esalen Institute.