Bob Byington

Directing

Bob Byington

Born 1971-04-29 · Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.

Indie favorite Bob Byington burst on to the scene in 2008 with his SXSW midnight lo-fi, low culture hit, RSO [Registered Sex Offender]. He followed that up at Lincoln Center's New Directors/New Films series with the Sundance Lab project "Harmony and Me" (2009). In 2012 Byington won the prestigious Special Jury Prize at the Locarno Film Festival with "Somebody Up There Likes Me" starring Nick Offerman, and shortly thereafter he teamed with Jason Schwartzman for cult smash "7 Chinese Brothers" (2015). In 2017 Byington worked with comedy stalwart Kieran Culkin to make "Infinity Baby" --the film took best feature at the much lauded Woodstock Film Festival that year. Bob is an Annenberg Fellow and is in the permanent collection at MoMA. His new film is "Frances Ferguson".

Acting credits

Apartment Troubles poster
5.0

Two codependent roommates, on the verge of eviction, flee New York for the promise of sunshine in Los Angeles where their friendship is tested by a chance at fame, a fortune teller and an amorous wealthy aunt.

Apartment Troubles

2014

Also Starring Austin poster
7.0

ALSO STARRING AUSTIN uses scenes from locally shot films as a lens to explore a community's rapidly changing built and natural environment and unique, enduring culture.

Also Starring Austin

2018

Ned Rifle poster
5.8

Henry’s and Fay's son Ned sets out to find and kill his father for destroying his mother's life. But his aims are frustrated by the troublesome Susan, whose connection to Henry predates even his arrival in the lives of the Grim family.

Ned Rifle

2015

Wild Canaries poster
5.1

When their elderly neighbor suddenly drops dead, a young Brooklyn couple investigates signs of foul play.

Wild Canaries

2014

Mullitt poster
6.5

Two roommates late on rent have to come up with a quick way to get money.

Mullitt

2000

The Color Wheel poster
6.3

JR, an aspiring news-anchor, forces her younger brother Colin to embark on a road trip to move her belongings out of her professor-turned-lover’s place. Traveling through New England, they uncomfortably run into old school-mates or revisit familial history from which they have long since diverged.

The Color Wheel

2012

7 Chinese Brothers poster
5.3

Larry is an unqualified, unemployable, inebriated prankster who rides a tide of booze onto the glorious shores of an undiscriminating Quick-Lube. Taking a part-time job vacuuming and washing windshields, Larry finds himself mixed up with hostile co-workers and unsatisfied customers, while also finding himself smitten with his lovely boss, Lupe Torrez. Will Larry keep it together long enough to win the girl, provide for man's best friend (his dog Arrow), and do his grandmother proud?

7 Chinese Brothers

2015

Harmony and Me poster
5.6

Lyricist Harmony insists on wallowing in misery eons after being unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend. While the members of Harmony's family are long over his antics, that doesn't stop him from milking his heartbreak and telling his tale of woe to anyone who will listen.

Harmony and Me

2010

Treasure Island poster
4.1

This film has nothing to do with Robert Louis Stevenson's classic story, but rather a naval base of the same name located in San Francisco Bay. Set amid WWII, TREASURE ISLAND follows two American code specialists that are hard at work trying to decipher Japanese messages and sending confusing messages back to deceive the enemy. The film explores sexual themes that were prevalent during the period, but not shown in the movies of that era. Frank, a bigamist, is married to two women and is pursuing a third wife. Samuel and his wife Penny are in a ménage à trois, which he participates in to cover up his homosexuality. As the pressures of the men’s lives begin to eat away at them, the dead body starts to torment Frank and Samuel's subconscious, interacting with the private stories of their lives.

Treasure Island

1999

The Poet and the Professor poster
NR

Ariel, an insecure writer tortured by her own desires, can’t seem to stop seeing “The Poet,” an older, volatile cinematographer who pursues his ‘art’ while taking full advantage of his rich girlfriend’s beautiful New York apartment. Ariel also can’t stop herself from loving her own professor, a depressed, married, struggling adjunct obsessed with postmodernism and addicted to pills.

The Poet and the Professor

2017

Beeswax poster
5.6

Jeannie and her estranged business partner Amanda have a falling out leading to Amanda getting back with an ex and Jeannie bonding more with her non-paralyzed twin Lauren.

Beeswax

2009

Incredibly Small poster
10.0

Two recent college graduates, Anne, an ambitious law student and Amir, an aimless escalator attendant and aspiring sculptor move into a 300 square foot apartment and try to start a life together. But the combination of their small apartment, their threateningly handsome neighbor across the hall and unexpected visitors from the past make them realize that maybe they aren't as perfect for each other as they previously had thought.

Incredibly Small

2010

Getting Stoned with Bob Byington poster
NR

Caveh gets stoned with indie filmmaker Bob Byington whose film, Registered Sex Offender, he once acted in.

Getting Stoned with Bob Byington

2023

Behind the camera

Lousy Carter poster
6.2

Man-baby Lousy Carter struggles to complete his animated Nabokov adaptation, teaches a graduate seminar on The Great Gatsby, and sleeps with his best friend's wife. He has six months to live.

Lousy Carter

2024

Lousy Carter poster
6.2

Man-baby Lousy Carter struggles to complete his animated Nabokov adaptation, teaches a graduate seminar on The Great Gatsby, and sleeps with his best friend's wife. He has six months to live.

Lousy Carter

2024

Lousy Carter poster
6.2

Man-baby Lousy Carter struggles to complete his animated Nabokov adaptation, teaches a graduate seminar on The Great Gatsby, and sleeps with his best friend's wife. He has six months to live.

Lousy Carter

2024

Tuna poster
5.3

First part of an abandoned trilogy. Although it was filmed in 2000, it was not released until writer Adam DeCoster uploaded it to YouTube from a friend's digitized copy in 2013. For years, it was muted due to music copyright issues, but was finally reuploaded in 2025.

Tuna

2013

Frances Ferguson poster
6.1

Frances Ferguson is discontent. Like a lot of us, she does a bit of “acting out” and pays the price —an arrest, a trial, incarceration. And then a new identity, one that’s not terribly comfortable.

Frances Ferguson

2019

No artwork available
10.0

The story of a normal, everyday guy, torn between the "good girl" and a "bad girl." Which will he choose? Will she still want him?

Shameless

1993

No artwork available
10.0

The story of a normal, everyday guy, torn between the "good girl" and a "bad girl." Which will he choose? Will she still want him?

Shameless

1993

No artwork available
10.0

The story of a normal, everyday guy, torn between the "good girl" and a "bad girl." Which will he choose? Will she still want him?

Shameless

1993

Infinity Baby poster
6.3

Owing to a genetic mix-up involving stem cell research, the recently founded company Infinity Baby is able to offer a service for aspiring parents who never want to leave the baby bubble — infants that do not age.

Infinity Baby

2017

RSO [Registered Sex Offender] poster
5.4

After serving three long years in prison, a registered sex offender returns to civilization, only to find an environment that's completely uncivilized. At the top of his list is finding a job — and getting his vindictive girlfriend to put out again.

RSO [Registered Sex Offender]

2008

RSO [Registered Sex Offender] poster
5.4

After serving three long years in prison, a registered sex offender returns to civilization, only to find an environment that's completely uncivilized. At the top of his list is finding a job — and getting his vindictive girlfriend to put out again.

RSO [Registered Sex Offender]

2008

Somebody Up There Likes Me poster
5.2

Thirty-five years in the life of Max, his best friend Sal and a woman they both adore, Lyla. The trio stumble through mandatory but seemingly unfulfilling entanglements, at weddings, funerals, hospitals, eateries, divorce courts and the tool shed. A deadpan fable about time sneaking up on and swerving right around us.

Somebody Up There Likes Me

2013

Somebody Up There Likes Me poster
5.2

Thirty-five years in the life of Max, his best friend Sal and a woman they both adore, Lyla. The trio stumble through mandatory but seemingly unfulfilling entanglements, at weddings, funerals, hospitals, eateries, divorce courts and the tool shed. A deadpan fable about time sneaking up on and swerving right around us.

Somebody Up There Likes Me

2013

7 Chinese Brothers poster
5.3

Larry is an unqualified, unemployable, inebriated prankster who rides a tide of booze onto the glorious shores of an undiscriminating Quick-Lube. Taking a part-time job vacuuming and washing windshields, Larry finds himself mixed up with hostile co-workers and unsatisfied customers, while also finding himself smitten with his lovely boss, Lupe Torrez. Will Larry keep it together long enough to win the girl, provide for man's best friend (his dog Arrow), and do his grandmother proud?

7 Chinese Brothers

2015

7 Chinese Brothers poster
5.3

Larry is an unqualified, unemployable, inebriated prankster who rides a tide of booze onto the glorious shores of an undiscriminating Quick-Lube. Taking a part-time job vacuuming and washing windshields, Larry finds himself mixed up with hostile co-workers and unsatisfied customers, while also finding himself smitten with his lovely boss, Lupe Torrez. Will Larry keep it together long enough to win the girl, provide for man's best friend (his dog Arrow), and do his grandmother proud?

7 Chinese Brothers

2015

Harmony and Me poster
5.6

Lyricist Harmony insists on wallowing in misery eons after being unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend. While the members of Harmony's family are long over his antics, that doesn't stop him from milking his heartbreak and telling his tale of woe to anyone who will listen.

Harmony and Me

2010

Harmony and Me poster
5.6

Lyricist Harmony insists on wallowing in misery eons after being unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend. While the members of Harmony's family are long over his antics, that doesn't stop him from milking his heartbreak and telling his tale of woe to anyone who will listen.

Harmony and Me

2010

Slacker 2011 poster
NR

Richard Linklater's SLACKER inspired a generation of American filmmakers by exploring the subculture of Austin, Texas in a loose narrative with a tapestry of quirky characters. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of that iconic movie, 24 of Austin's top filmmakers banded together to update SLACKER with their own perspectives on the city.

Slacker 2011

2011

Olympia poster
7.0

A washed-up Mexican soap star ditches fame, fortune, and telenovela melodrama to chase an absurd new dream: becoming a javelin-throwing legend. With her trusty spear in hand and nothing left to lose, Olympia Miraflores (Carmen Nogales) swims across the Rio Grande, determined to rewrite her story. In border-town Laredo, she teams up with Billy (Jason Andrews), a disgraced coach whose athletic résumé includes wearing a taco costume outside a fast food joint. Together, this wildly mismatched duo takes on the world—one misstep at a time

Olympia

1998