Albert Birney

Albert Birney is an American filmmaker, writer and animator whose surreal films mix absurdist humor, dreamlike storytelling and hand-drawn animation. Raised in Wilmington, Delaware, he helped form the indie pop group The Spinto Band in high school, then studied film at Syracuse University, graduating in 2004. He had left the band by the early 2000s to concentrate on film and visual art, and music videos for acts such as Future Islands and Dan Deacon led him toward narrative and experimental filmmaking. His breakout feature, Sylvio (2017), co-directed with Kentucker Audley, screened at SXSW and was named one of the year's best films by The New Yorker. Strawberry Mansion (2021), a further collaboration with Audley, a science fiction romantic fantasy, premiered at Sundance and drew praise for its analog aesthetic. He also created Tux and Fanny, an animated project and game built from hand-drawn pixel art, and his sixth feature, Obex (2026), continued his analog filmmaking interests.