Anna Biller

Anna Biller is an American filmmaker who wrote and directed the feature films Viva and The Love Witch (2016). Biller considers herself a feminist filmmaker and consciously explores feminist themes throughout her work, including exploring the female gaze in cinema. She is vocal on both her website and in interviews about gender inequalities in the film industry.

Early life Biller was born in Los Angeles to a Japanese-American mother who is a fashion designer and a Caucasian father who is a visual artist. She grew up watching her mother design clothes, watching her father paint with a bright color palette, and watching classic cinema, all of which has influenced her filmmaking practice. She has a B.A. in art from UCLA and an MFA in art and film from the California Institute of the Arts. She started making 8 mm films while she was living in New York. which played with old Hollywood genres and tropes from the 1930s to the 1950s. She made her first short film, Three Examples of Myself as Queen, while studying at CalArts. In the film, Biller plays Pointsettia, a teenager who turns into a princess and has the power to transform men into dogs. The film screened at small venues and film festivals. Lane Relyea of Artforum International wrote "the film's humor and graceful perplexity may not have caused any sudden shifts in the local fault lines but did crack a glorious smile on this audience member's face." John Hartl of The Seattle Times called it a "bizarre, Warholian musical fantasy."

In 2001, she directed two short films: The Hypnotist, a melodrama written by her frequent collaborator Jared Sanford, Biller sourced most of the set pieces in A Visit from the Incubus from the scene dock at Culver Studios, and the furniture from the Warner Bros. and Universal studios property departments.

Her 2007 debut feature film, Viva, tells the story of a bored housewife who goes out in search of sexual adventure in the 1970s. Viva offers a satirical perspective on the adult film industry, exploring women's agency and empowerment within this context. Biller's approach combines elements of satire, horror, and genre filmmaking, blending camp with feminist critique to create visually captivating and thematically rich narratives. It premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and won the Best of Fest Award at the Boston Underground Film Festival. The film was also entered into the main competition at the 29th Moscow International Film Festival. Reason magazine called Viva an "uncannily precise rendition of the look, sound, mood, and arch dialogue" of seventies sexploitation films, with "high-key, pseudo-Technicolor lighting and spare, colorful set design." Viva had a very limited theatrical release. In The Love Witch, Samantha Robinson portrays the protagonist, Elaine, whose quest for love serves as a critique of patriarchal ideals and the objectification of women. Biller describes the film as addressing "how being a woman in our society can drive you crazy." It evokes the sexploitation of women in Hammer horror films, and was shot entirely on film in order to recreate the old Hollywood style. The film took Biller seven years to complete, five of which were pre-production and two were post-production, because of her attention to detail in directing, writing, costume and set design, and work with her cinematographer. Biller completed all of the sets and costumes herself, as there was no budget left to hire pre-production designers. In May 2016, The Love Witch was acquired for distribution by Oscilloscope Laboratories. The Love Witch was included in many lists for the best films of 2016, including those of The New Yorker and IndieWire. It won in a tie for the Trailblazer Award and Best Costume Design at the Chicago Indie Critics Awards, and also won the Michael Cimino Best Film Award at the American Independent Film Awards.

2017–present: Bluebeard's Castle and The Face of Horror Biller said in 2017 that her next film will be a Bluebeard story.

In 2019, Biller became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

On December 5, 2021, Biller announced she had completed her first novel, Bluebeard's Castle. The novel tells the story of a writer named Judith, and her romance with her husband Gavin, a wealthy baron. The story quickly turns to horror as Judith tries to determine if her husband is truly loving, or actually a classic Gothic villain. Bluebeard's Castle was listed as one of the best fiction books of 2023 by The Telegraph, who said it was, "A stylised retelling of the old fable that mixes self-reference and gaudy excess ... the sex, death and pricy cognac are of a wildly enjoyable piece." The Times Literary Supplement also praised it, calling it "Both a fantasy and a nightmare, with the film-maker Biller employing the same sense of celluloid artifice and lusciously heightened reality that characterized her retro horror masterpiece The Love Witch." In an interview with Becca Child of Metal Magazine, Biller describes the novel as a hybrid between a literary and genre novel, starting as a Gothic romance and becoming a Gothic horror tale. On June 26, 2025, it was announced that Jonah Hauer-King, Kristine Froseth, Bella Heathcote, Ellie Bamber, and Leo Suter had joined the cast, which was to begin filming in July in Prague. A week later, on July 2, 2025, Ben Radcliffe was announced to be joining the cast. The Face of Horror, set in 14th Century England, is loosely based on the Yotsuya Kaidan, a Japanese ghost story. Hauer-Kind is cast to play a knight, Edward Carnifex, married to Eleanor (played by Froseth), but leaves her for a wealthy noblewoman (Heathcote), forcing Eleanor to take bloody revenge. Eleanor’s sister Beatrice is played by Ellie Bamber, and Leo Suter plays both Edward’s squire and Richard, Beatrice’s suitor. Biller has two cats: Jacques, a tuxedo; and Pushkin, a Maine Coon tabby.

Filmography Biller served as director, producer, writer, editor, and costume designer on all films listed.

Awards Awards that Biller has won throughout the years.