John Ira Palmer is a producer and director. He is a founding partner of Projected Picture Works with Sean Penn and John Wildermuth, focused on developing and producing feature films and series.
Palmer’s producing credits include SEPTEMBER 5 (dir. Tim Fehlbaum, cast: Peter Sarsgaard & John Magaro, Venice 2024) and ASPHALT CITY (dir. Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, cast: Sean Penn & Tye Sheridan, Cannes 2023), as well as FLAG DAY (dir. Sean Penn, cast: Dylan Penn & Sean Penn, Cannes 2021), AL IMAM (dir. Omar Al Dakheel, Vimeo Staff Pick), THE DARE PROJECT (dir. Adam Salky, Frameline & Outfest 2018), and CONTRA-INTERNET: JUBILEE 2033 (dir. Zach Blas, Berlin 2018).
Palmer directed OUT OF THE CORNER OF OUR EYE, winner of the Outfest Audience Award for Best Platinum (Experimental) Short, funded by National Endowment for the Arts, and commissioned by SCI-Arc Channel. Palmer also directed ELWOOD TAKES A LOVER, an official selection of The American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes 2019. His experimental short films have exhibited at venues and festivals such as San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, REDCAT, Pacific Film Archive, Blum & Poe, Outfest, and Frameline.
Palmer is a recipient of the Film at Lincoln Center’s Artists Academy fellowship, Echo Park Film Center’s LA AIR residency, AICAD’s New York Studio Program residency, the ARRI Emerging Filmmaker Grant, the James Broughton Film Award, and a Princess Grace Award. He has programmed film series for American Cinematheque, Echo Park Film Center, and San Francisco Art Institute. Palmer earned his MFA in Film & Television Production at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and his BFA in Fine Arts at San Francisco Art Institute. He is a producing faculty member at USC School of Cinematic Arts and AFI Conservatory.
In addition to filmmaking, Palmer is engaged in community-based service, previously serving as Chief of Staff at CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) throughout its response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the refugee crisis from the Russo-Ukrainian War. While a student at USC, Palmer co-founded the Our Voices speaker series with inaugural lineup speakers including John Singleton, Andrew Ahn, and Cheryl Boone-Isaacs. For over a decade, Palmer also volunteered as a crisis counselor and training mentor for The Trevor Project, dedicated to suicide prevention and crisis intervention for LGBTQ+ youth.