Yony Leyser
Berlin, Germany
Filmmaking
Yony Leyser is a Berlin, Germany based writer and director whose work has spanned two decades focusing on artists, the LGBTQ+ community, subcultures and queer history. Collectively Leyser’s work has been screened in over 150 institutions and festivals around the world, including Slamdance, Seattle International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Sheffield Doc/fest, Viennale, Guadalajara International Film Festival, IDFA, Filmfest Max Ophüls Preis, Frameline and HotDocs; as well as streaming and on TV on Netflix, Amazon Prime, Arte, ZDF, RTL+, SVT, PBS, Vice/Viceland, VPRO, SBS, Pluto TV, Night Flight, YouTube and Tubi.
Leyser’s award-winning feature films include William S. Burroughs: A Man Within (2010), Desire Will Set You Free (2015) and Queercore: How To Punk A Revolution (2017). In 2019, the Maxim Gorki Theatre premiered Leyser’s first theater piece W(A)RM HOLES. In 2020 Leyser co-authored the book Queercore: How To Punk A Revolution out on PM Press. In 2023 Leyser released two short films The Fourth Generation, and Chokehole: Drag Wresters do Deutschland.
Born in Chicagoland in 1984, Leyser has explored themes identity, displacement and belonging and gave a voice and platform to those marginalised by society. Leyser directs in both English and German.
Yony Leyser has a B.A in Film and Journalism from NYC’s Eugene Lang College at the New School University and a MFA (Diplom II) in Media Arts from KHM (Academy of Media Arts Cologne) with honours (1,1).
Leyser is a member of the European Film Academy and the Deutsche Filmakademie and has worked with some of the world’s most prestigious art and music icons, from punk princess Nina Hagen to the king of filth John Waters as well as Sonic Youth, Iggy Pop, Patti Smith, Amiri Baraka, and Peaches.
Leyser’s productions have received critical acclaim from international publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, Der Spiegel, NME, Wall Street Journal, Vice, The LA Times, tagesspiegel and dozens more. Leyser has exhibited and performed at Manifesta in Zurich, Sprechsaale Gallery in Berlin, No No Gallery in Melbourne and Heaven Gallery in Chicago and has done guest film programming at Chicago International Movie and Music festival, 3hD art festival (Berlin), and the B3 Biennale (Frankfurt) and lecturing at various universities.
Today, Yony Leyser continues to blaze a trail for the global LGBTQ+ community in Germany and worldwide.