Halo Starling (they/he) is a writer, director, performer, and artist, worldbuilding positive futures in the husk of the capitalist experiment.
Starling was one of seven inaugural 2021 Circle of Confusion Writers Discovery Fellows, mentored by Lawrence Mattis (The Matrix, The Walking Dead), with their TV pilot, FLOAT. They were represented by Lawrence Mattis and Zach Cox at Circle of Confusion as a writer/director from fall 2021 - fall 2023.
Starling is currently in development for their first feature, Unsafe, which is presently in the second round of Sundance’s 2024 Development Track. They are also currently a PhD candidate in Media Arts + Practice at USC, in the School of Cinematic Arts.
Starling received their MFA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University in 2021. They were Temple University's nominee for the Tribeca Film Institute/Sloan Discovery Student Award 2020 with their TV pilot, WELL. Starling's MFA thesis film, PONY, premiered at TRANSlations: Seattle Trans Film Fest 2022, and has been officially selected for four festivals, and covered in Starling's chapter in Expanding the Parameters of Feminist Artivism (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2022). The feature script for PONY advanced to the second round of Sundance Institute's 2022 Development Track, and was in the top 10% of entries for the 2022 Academy Nicholl Fellowships.
Starling's short film, SUNRIDER, premiered at Les Femmes Underground International Film Festival in Phoenix, AZ in September 2018, and was featured at a MONO NO AWARE screening at Anthology Film Archives in New York in April 2018. SUNRIDER was also officially selected for Lift'Off's First-Time Filmmaker Sessions, 2019. SUNRIDER was also part of the screening program for "SUPERHOST" at Like a Little Disaster in Polignano a Mare, Ital in 2019. SUNRIDER was also officially selected for The Bush Films' Queer Sci-Fi & Fantasy Short Films screening in 2020.
Starling's short film, The French Chef with Julia Child: Abortifacient Herbs, premiered and was a finalist in the Get Free Film Fest in Los Angeles, 2019, was officially selected for Planet 9 Film Fest in 2019, and was the featured video in Vox Populi's 4th Wall program, fall 2019.
Starling's short film, Hold, has been officially selected for LesFlicks film festival in November 2019, and will be distributed via LesFlicks' Video on Demand distribution platform. Starling's short films, Hold and Wait, were screened as part of "Positive Futures," co-curated by Starling and Loraine Wible, at Vox Populi in May 2019. Six of Starling's short films were aired in an anthology called "HOW TO FOOD" on PhillyCAM in 2019.
Starling's short films, Kiwi Time! and Lemon Nipple were officially selected for the Hacker Porn Film Festival in Rome, Italy, April 24-30, 2020. Kiwi Time! premiered at Temple University's Diamond Screen Film Festival on 4.30.19. Lemon Nipple premiered at Temple University's "Diamond Screen: Women's Fest" on March 13, 2019. Starling's short film, Fruitr, premiered at Temple University's "Diamond Screen: DiamondQ LGBTQ+ Film Festival" on October 7, 2019. Starling's short film, Valentine's Day After, premiered at Temple University's "Diamond Screen: Women's Fest" on March 18, 2020.
Starling's artwork has been shown in New York, Tehran, Talinn, Oslo, Mexico City (as part of the collective Silvershed), and in the regional US. They have performed all over NYC and Brooklyn, and premiered original work at Dixon Place Theater. Their work has been featured in "EMERGENCY INDEX." They have taught, curated, guest-critiqued, and performed at BHQFU. They are a former artist-in-residence at The Shandaken Project and at the Prattsville Art Center and Residency. They have been interviewed in Adult Mag, GO Magazine, and The Temple News, and have contributed writing to HuffPost, HuffPost Queer Voices, The Establishment, Luna Luna Mag, RENDER, artforum.com, The Brooklyn Rail, and The American Reader, as well as various artist catalogues.