Ezra Rose (they/them) is a writer and director living between Brooklyn, NY, and Charlottesville, VA. Born and raised in England, Rose began their career in entertainment playing disgruntled children on television.
As part of the AFI DWW+ 2024-2025 program, Rose made the short film OLD DYKES, a bittersweet love story about two women in their sixties. OLD DYKES had its world premiere at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival in 2025 and a US premiere at the Academy Award® qualifying festival Out On Film. The film was awarded Best Narrative Short at Appalachian Queer Film Festival and was selected for SCAD Savanna Film Festival, among others. They are currently developing the feature version of the film.
They were a Winter 2024 Guest Resident at Woodward Residency in Ridgewood, Queens, and a recipient of the 2024 LEF Fund Early Development Grant for their documentary project PAPER TIES.
Alongside OLD DYKES, Rose’s other short films CLOWN TITS and LIKE, MAMMA MIA illustrate a penchant for telling stories that really shouldn’t be funny. If it’s sad, scary, or shameful, Rose will find the joke. CLOWN TITS, an experimental meditation on dysphoria told through drag, dance, and queer history, has been shown at film festivals around the world, including the Video Art & Experimental Film Festival (VAEFF) in New York City and the International Experimental Film Festival in Athens, Greece. Rose also directed LIKE MAMMA MIA?, a film about a woman who has the idea for Mamma Mia the musical, only to discover it’s already been made.
Between 2018 and 2023, Rose worked with MasterClass.com as a producer and director, proudly contributing to classes with individuals including Roxane Gay, Robin Roberts, and Madhur Jaffrey.
When they aren’t filmmaking, Rose teaches acting and film to curious undergraduate students at the University of Virginia.