Amy Heller

Amy Heller

(She/Her)
Co-founder
Milestone Film & Video
Amy Heller co-founded Milestone Films in 1990 and is celebrating her 40th year in distribution/restoration in 2025.
Full Bio
Amy Heller is co-founder (with husband and partner, Dennis Doros) of Milestone Films. The pair started this independent film distribution and restoration company to seek out films that have been lost, overlooked, and underappreciated — with a special focus on the work of women and African American filmmakers. Milestone has had the honor of introducing film audiences to Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep, Kent Mackenzie’s The Exiles, Lionel Rogosin’s On the Bowery, Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba, and Shirley Clarke's The Connection, Portrait of Jason and Ornette: Made in America — among many others.

Heller studied American labor and working-class history at NYU and Yale before starting her career in film distribution in 1985. She has written about the potential for film restoration to enrich the canon in Caligari Magazine and for the Walker Art Center and co-produced the nonfiction films Notfilm and The Many Miracles of Household Saints.
Professional Credits
First Run Features 1985-1986
New Yorker Films 1986-1990
Co-founded Milestone Films 1990-present
Co-produced Notfilm and The Many Miracles of Household Saints.
Co-president, Missing Movies, Inc.
Industry Awards
Ambler Theater Award for the Cinematic Arts 2023
Art House Convergence Spotlight Lifetime award 2019
Denver Silent Film Festival’s David Shepard Career Achievement Award 2019
Fort Lee Film Commission Barrymore Award 2017
National Society of Film Critics Film Heritage Award 2012
New York Film Critics’ Circle’s “Special Award” 2004 and 2012
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Legacy of Cinema Award 2008
Lewis J. Selznick Award 2007
Leo Award from the International Film Seminars 2004
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
SIGN UP