Finalist, 2025/2026 Top Tier Competition
BIO
LEONORA PITTS is an award-winning filmmaker, screenwriter, actress, dancer, and teacher. She earned her BFA in Acting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she trained with the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School and later served on its faculty for several years.
As an actress, Leonora has guest-starred on numerous network TV shows, appeared in films such as Charlie Day’s directorial debut, Fool’s Paradise, and had a recurring role on the Apple+ series For All Mankind.
A frequent collaborator with the prolific Duplass Brothers, she’s featured in their films The Freebie and Magic Hour (both directed by Katie Aselton) and Manson Family Vacation (directed by J. Davis). She also guest-starred in their acclaimed HBO series Togetherness and Room 104.
Currently pursuing an MFA in Screenwriting at the David Lynch School of Cinematic Arts, Leonora’s screenplay Mad Bad Dangerous to Know (co-written with Emily Robinson) won Best Unproduced Screenplay at the Raindance Film Festival and was a 2024 semi-finalist for the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship. Her latest script, This Way Comes, was a Second Rounder at the Austin Film Festival and won Best Feature Screenplay at the Big Apple Film Festival in 2024.
Leonora’s four award-winning short films have screened at dozens of festivals worldwide, including Aspen Shortsfest, HollyShorts, Outfest, Raindance, Bentonville, Dam Short, Mill Valley, and Indie Memphis.
She recently produced her first feature film, I Hate Myself and Want to Die, which premiered at the Austin Film Festival in October 2024.
Leonora joined the faculty of the American Film Institute in 2024, teaching in their MFA Directing program.
She is the creator and host of Mothering Heights, a weekly podcast exploring the intersection of caretaking, creativity, and community. Leonora also co-founded and leads the Los Angeles Women’s Film Collective and the popular LA moms’ group NELA Mamas. She is a board member emeritus of the Independent Shakespeare Company, which brings free Shakespeare performances to nearly 40,000 Angelenos every summer in Griffith Park, and serves as a founding member and advisory council member of the legendary Vidiots Foundation.