Dusty Austen

Dusty Austen is a transgender woman and award-winning filmmaker who has been involved in the independent film world for over 20 years. Her interest in filmmaking and her genre of choice, horror, began when she was only 3 years old. She began making her own films at age 12 and played her first film festival by the age of 18. She soon began a consistent career in the independent world working for companies across Ohio & Pennsylvania and eventually expanding to create content for creatives in Ireland, England & Canada.

After working on numerous features, and projects, Austen created a name for herself in the found footage community and founded the GG13 Collective, the creative team behind the award-winning web series GG13: The Haunted World of CW on which she served as show-runner, director, and editor from 2013 to 2019.

She was also the co-host of the Found Footage Files Podcast and Executive Editor for the distribution company POV Horror during its formative years.

Austen and her wife Athena Murzda sought to create a low-budget high concept independent film company that celebrated diversity & creative freedom and soon formed Street Rat Studios, under which their first feature produced was "The Beast of Walton St."

She resides in Ohio with her wife, 2 daughters, and their army of pets.