Douglas Edwards was born in 1948 in Memphis, Tennessee and studied architecture and design at UC Berkeley before moving to Los Angeles in 1969 and studying film at UCLA.

From 1970 until 1973 Edwards curated an experimental film program at the Egg and Eye art gallery on Wilshire Boulevard. In 1975, following the departure of William Moritz, Edwards assumed the positions of theatre manager and film programmer at the Theatre Vanguard in West Hollywood, a multipurpose non-profit arts venue. Edwards curated the theatre's film program until financial stress caused its closure in 1978. During this time Edwards also served as a special events administrator for the Academy, as a programmer and coordinator for the Los Angeles International Film Exposition and as a writer and editor for 'The Advocate.'

After Theatre Vanguard's closure, Edwards leveraged his programming experience and relationship with the NEA to form Encounter Cinema, an experimental film series exhibited at UCLA's Melnitz Hall. Edwards continued to run Encounter Cinema until it too folded in 1985. He also served as a guest director of film at LACMA, was a founding member of the National Alliance of Media Arts Centers and was an editor of the corresponding 'Media Arts' journal. He died in 1993 of AIDS related complications. In April of the same year the Anthology Film Archives in New York arranged a memorial screening and program.