Mark Gerstein received an MFA in Art from the University of Central Florida, and BA in Philosophy from The University of Chicago. He is an Associate Professor of Film in the School of Visual Arts and Design at University of Central Florida.
Gerstein has expanded his practice from filmmaking to the fine arts. He began in the mainstream film industry in Los Angeles, where he was a film editor on feature films and television series from major Hollywood studios and television networks (including Columbia/Tri-Star, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Disney, ABC, NBC, CBS). He later branched out to academia, where he has written and directed narrative and experimental films that have exhibited in over thirty international film festivals. His current work has moved beyond the convention of film as an image on a screen to the intersection of motion picture, the still frame, and the third dimension in a gallery setting.
The premiere of his studio work took place by invitation at the 2017 Orlando Museum of Art Florida Prize in Contemporary Art featuring "10 of the most progressive and exciting artists working in the State today."
Gerstein’s filmography as writer/director includes: Entropy (2016); Overunity (2012); No Worries (2008); Detour (2006); The Call of Story: An American Renaissance (2002) [Associate Producer, Editor].
National and International screenings include: Oaxaca Film Festival, Oaxaca, Mexico; Iowa City Documentary Film Festival, Iowa City, Iowa; Festival de Cortos de Bogota, Bogota, Columbia; Oregon Independent Film Festival, Eugene, Oregon; Colony Film Festival, Marietta, Ohio; Indie Memphis Film Festival, Memphis, Tennessee; Sedona International Film Festival, Sedona, Arizona; Long Island International Film Expo, Bellmore, New York; Breckenridge Festival of Film, Breckenridge, Colorado; Cinequest Film Festival, Las Vegas, Nevada; Sonoma Valley Film Festival, Sonoma, California; Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; River’s Edge Film Festival, Paducah, Kentucky; Temecula Valley International Film Festival, Temecula, California; New Orleans Film Festival, New Orleans, Louisiana; Breckenridge Festival of Film, Breckenridge, Colorado; Moviefone Short Film Festival, online; FAIF International Film Festival, West Hollywood, California; Annapolis International Film Festival, Annapolis, Maryland; Reno International Film Festival, Reno, Nevada; Long Island International Film Expo, Bellmore, New York; Deep Ellum Film Festival, Dallas, Texas; Queens International Film Festival, Astoria, New York; George Lindsey UNA Film Festival, Florence, Alabama; Sedona International Film Festival, Sedona, Arizona; Newport Beach International Film Festival, Newport Beach, California; Cleveland International Film Festival, Cleveland, Ohio; Public Broadcasting Service