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Daniel J. Wilner is a writer-director based in Los Angeles.
Born in Montreal, Dan attended The Hotchkiss School, Harvard College, and Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. Throughout his education he worked extensively in the theatre⸺first as an actor, ultimately playing the role of Hamlet, and then as a director, staging such plays as Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and McDonagh's The Pillowman. After teaching himself film-making, Dan made his first short, "Boy Fools," with the support of the National Film Board of Canada, the country's public film producer and distributor. For his next short, "Pas de Trois," he won the support of BravoFACT, one of Canada's most prestigious film programs, which has supported such film-makers as Denis Villeneuve, Atom Egoyan, and Guy Maddin. After moving to Los Angeles, Dan made "The Cold," a proof-of-concept short for a survival thriller. Dan has also directed documentary films: his first doc short, "Working Mom," was bought by Aeon digital magazine, and his follow-up, "Michael Lost and Found," was distributed by Netflix. Pursuing advanced training at the Global Cinematography Institute, founded by Vilmos Zsigmond, Dan has done master classes with such world-renowned cinematographers as Bill Pope, Robert Legato, Affonso Beato, and Ben Richardson. Dan has also continued to direct theatre. His production of Beckett's Waiting for Godot was listed as one of StageRaw LA's recommended plays. Dan served for nearly a decade as a Trustee of The Hotchkiss School and is a devoted practitioner of Zen Buddhism. |