Directing

Jyllian Gunther

Biography

Jyllian is an Emmy Award–winning filmmaker working across film, television, and audio. She is known for drawing comedic, heartfelt characters with distinct voices. Most recently she co-directed and produced the feature documentary, Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story, for HBO. She was Director, Writer, & Co-Executive Producer for the new HBO MAX rom doc series, Swiping America. Her documentary short, Sunset & The Mockingbird, is currently on the 2025–2026 festival circuit and will stream on PBS in the fall. Her feature script Pleased To Meet Me is being developed and represented by Wren Arthur and Olive Productions. She previously served as Co-Executive Producer, Director, and Writer on multiple episodes of the Emmy Award–winning NBC series Who Do You Think You Are, featuring Allison Janney, Nick Offerman, Billy Porter, and others. She directed and executive produced the History/A&E documentary, Black Patriots: Heroes of the American Revolution, featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, for which she received a Christopher Award. She was Producer for ABC’s The Last Defense, a seven part docuseries executive produced by Viola Davis. Her earlier work includes directing and producing short films for The New Yorker Presents, in collaboration with Jigsaw, Amazon, and The New Yorker. Her feature documentary The New Public, aired on PBS and is distributed by Kino Lorber, with an accompanying curriculum developed at Columbia University’s Teachers College. Her first feature documentary, Pull Out, premiered at multiple international film festivals and is in development as a television series. She is the recipient of a national Emmy award for writing and directing a series of public service announcements for PBS. She began her career as a staff writer at Nickelodeon and went on to write and produce across Discovery, TLC, MTV, AMC, IFC, and WE tv. She has also contributed reporting and production to NPR’s, This American Life