Justin Lerner is an Emmy and Gotham Award-winning writer/director born in State College, Pennsylvania, USA to two developmental psychologists, one Catholic and one Jewish, who compromised by sending him to Quaker school until the age of eleven. He studied Theatre Arts and Film at Cornell University, where he graduated cum laude for his honors thesis on the films and philosophy of Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky.
In 2007, he received his MFA in Directing at UCLA Film School, where his thesis film THE REPLACEMENT CHILD was awarded two student Emmys, one for Best Drama and the other for Best Director. THE REPLACEMENT CHILD made its World Premiere at Telluride Film Festival, and it went on to play in over forty other festivals internationally.
His first feature film, GIRLFRIEND, made its World Premiere at the 2010 Toronto Int'l Film Festival and went on to win three other festivals and the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Audience Award. It was released by Strand Releasing. Lerner's second feature film, THE AUTOMATIC HATE stars Joseph Cross (LINCOLN, MILK, RUNNING WITH SCISSORS), Adelaide Clemens (THE GREAT GATSBY), Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood), Ricky Jay, and Richard Schiff. The indie drama was produced by Alix Madigan, an Oscar nominee for the hit indie WINTER'S BONE. The film made its World Premiere at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival and is the second in an informal trilogy of films that depict taboo, or "impossible" relationships. He currently lives in Los Angeles and is represented by WME.
Film Movement
