Milena Pastreich was born in San Francisco and now lives in Los Angeles where she directs and shoots films. With a BA in Art History from NYU and a background in documentary photography, she began her filmmaking career with Trigger Happy Productions while living in Berlin from 2004 to 2007. From 2008 to 2012 she attended UCLA Film School, graduating with an MFA in Directing and Cinematography. Her thesis film I Feel Stupid is a 2012 UCLA Spotlight Award Winner and will be included in the premiere season of the new national program Film School Shorts, a public television series featuring the best student films from around the country. Her short film Jean-Paul Luc Sebastien Ren screened at SXSW (2010). She is the 2012 Panavision Award Winner for her work in cinematography on The Ballad of Finn+Yeti, which screened at the 2012 Festival de Cannes, Cinefondation. In addition, Pastreich is the recipient of the 2010 Edie and Lew Wasserman Film Production Fellowship, the 2009 and 2008 Motion Picture Association of America Award and the 2008 Women in Film
Foundation/Loreen Arbus Fellowship in Cinematography.