Elisha Mlotek

I’m a filmmaker based in Maryland, USA.

I co-wrote Myself When I Am Real (dir. Angeline Gragasin), which screened at Palm Springs International ShortFest, New/Next Film Festival, Women Make Waves International Film Festival (Taipei), Hawai‘i International Film Festival, and San Diego Asian Film Festival, where it was awarded Best Narrative Short Film. My upcoming short called Babesmilk is a comedy filmed in Guam/Guåhan.

I’ve worked as a writer’s assistant to Daniel Stiepleman (WGA) on On the Basis of Sex (dir. Mimi Leder, 2018), Out of My Mind (dir. Amber Sealey, 2024), and Planet of Exile, adapted from Ursula K. Le Guin’s novella and currently in development at LAMF. My comedy sketches have been featured on Comedy Central and in Vulture and I used to run an 11pm radio show on kpiss.fm called Lifeline Asstray.

I’m a founding member of Zusha, whose 2014 self-titled debut EP charted at No. 9 on Billboard’s World Albums chart, followed by the 2016 full-length album, Kavana, which reached No. 2. I’m also a gold-certified (RIAA) credited songwriter on JID’s “Dance Now,” which sampled Zusha’s “Yoel’s Niggun” and has amassed over 140 million streams. Weird!

I hold an MFA from the Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema and teach film studies at the University of Maryland Global Campus on Joint Base Andrews.