RECENT NEWS: Ashley Avis to Direct 'AMERICAN WOLF' for Apple Winterstone Pictures Nabs Rights to Atticus’ ‘The Dark Between Stars’ With Ashley Avis Set to Write and Direct (EXCLUSIVE) From ‘Black Beauty’ To ‘Wild Beauty’: Director Ashley Avis’ Equine Activism Comes Full Circle In Her Oscar-Contending Documentary Ashley Avis to Helm 'City of Angels' Romance Based on Wim Wenders' 'Wings of Desire' for Warner Bros. |
Ashley Avis is an American director, screenwriter, and journalist. A lifelong equestrian and passionate advocate for horses and wildlife, she is the founder of The Wild Beauty Foundation. She has written for Rolling Stone, and her work has been covered by Time Magazine. Avis wrote, directed, and edited Black Beauty for Disney+, starring Kate Winslet and Mackenzie Foy. The film was reviwed by Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times as “a gorgeous, sweeping epic.” She has written and will next direct a reimagining of City of Angels for Warner Bros. with Charles Roven, Rebecca Roven Steel Oakley, and Paul Perez producing. She is also attached to write and direct American Wolf for Appian Way, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson producing. Additional upcoming projects include The Dark Between Stars, inspired by the poetry of New York Times bestselling author Atticus. In 2019, Avis embarked on what became a five-year passion project: her award-winning documentary Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West, a 2023 Critics Choice Award nominee. The film—hailed as “groundbreaking” and “a masterpiece of investigative reporting”—examines both the breathtaking natural beauty of the American West and the controversial government treatment of wild horses. In recognition of her advocacy, she received a Special Congressional Commendation in 2023 for her work on behalf of America’s equids. Avis has brought Wild Beauty to Washington, D.C., screening before Members of Congress in support of federal wild horse protection legislation. She regularly speaks on panels and at schools, encouraging the next generation to protect the wild world, and recently launched the 2026 Lost Horses campaign to end the tragic export of American equines. An editor of more than a decade, she cuts the majority of her own work. Ashley is the co-founder of Winterstone Pictures and lives in Los Angeles near the ocean with her husband and producing partner, Edward Winters, and their dog, Whiskey. In her spare time, she rescues horses and is writing her first children’s book.
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