About

Ashton Gleckman is a filmmaker, composer, and founder of Blackbird Pictures, a production company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Dubbed a "Wunderkind" by The Hollywood Reporter, Ashton is known for blending his passions for music and storytelling across feature documentaries, television series, YouTube content, and solo music releases. His work, including his Behind the Score series, has garnered recognition from luminaries like composer Hans Zimmer (Interstellar) and film directors like Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth).

Ashton’s directorial debut, We Shall Not Die Now (2019), explores the Holocaust through interviews filmed across the U.S., U.K., and Poland. The film premiered at the Heartland International Film Festival, winning the Audience Choice Award, and is now streaming on Amazon Prime. He followed with The Hills I Call Home (2021), an intimate portrait of small-town Appalachia, released by Gravitas Ventures.

In 2023, Ashton directed Kennedy, an eight-part docuseries on The HISTORY® Channel. Featuring over 70 interviews with historians and public figures like Conan O’Brien, the series was narrated by Emmy Award-winner Peter Coyote and praised by The Los Angeles Times as “fresh and exhaustive.” Ashton served as director, editor, and co-composer, collaborating with Michael Frankenberger and Cameron Moody on the series’ musical score. Following Kennedy, Ashton became a member of the Directors Guild of America.

He is currently directing The Quiet Village, a documentary about the first Nazi extermination camp, Kulmhof. Filming began in May 2024 and wrapped in February 2025, spanning locations in Poland, Germany, the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Narrated by Liev Schreiber (Defiance) and co-produced by the Academy Award-winning RadicalMedia, the film is slated for a 2026 release. Learn more at blackbirdpictures.net.

Through his work in film, Ashton has conducted more than 150 interviews with figures such as Benjamin Ferencz (Nuremberg trials), Senator Tom Daschle, actor Bruce Greenwood, and Janice Kelsey (1963 Birmingham Children’s Crusade), as well as veterans, survivors, and leading historians.

Before pursuing filmmaking and composition, Ashton performed as a rock musician and songwriter, recording his debut EP at Dark Horse Institute in Franklin, Tennessee. At 15, he composed the music for the documentary Once Upon a Family. Since then, he has released eight albums, including Fragments and Winds of Spring — and two volumes of A Night at the Movies, a compilation of original film music arrangements. His compositions have been featured in productions like Netflix’s WWII: The Road to Victory and Disney+’s Avatar: The Deep Dive.

Ashton also hosts the YouTube series Behind the Score, where he deconstructs iconic film scores and recreates them using virtual instruments. Episodes have covered films like Interstellar, Inception, Oppenheimer, and The Shape of Water. His arrangement of Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar score has surpassed 18 million views, and Guillermo Del Toro shared Ashton’s The Shape of Water episode on social media. In Winter 2021/2022, Ashton’s rendition of Danny Elfman’s Ice Dance reached #1 on TikTok, amassing over 400,000 track uses.

He has also interviewed composers including Harry Gregson-Williams (The Chronicles of Narnia), Simon Franglen (Avatar: The Way of Water), Nathan Johnson (Knives Out), and Justin Hurwitz (La La Land).

In 2024, Ashton was honored by the Indianapolis Business Journal as one of their “Twenty in Their Twenties.” In September 2025, he gave a keynote address for the Rally Innovation conference.

As Ashton continues his creative journey, he remains dedicated to telling meaningful stories that resonate with audiences, embracing new challenges and exploring new worlds as both a filmmaker and composer.