Jen Heck
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Jen Heck is an American writer, director, and producer best known for her award-winning short films. Her work has appeared at the Whitney Biennial (2004), and at major film festivals including The Sundance Film Festival, the Sao Paulo International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Film Festival]][1] and the Hamptons International Film Festival[2]. Her stories are often described as "quirky," with themes of love, isolation, and the delicate nature of relationships between young women commonly recurring. Her signature visual style often incorporates found or pre-existing media with rich, original material to create a unique, heavily-stylized narrative result.
Ms. Heck's work has garnered a number of awards and nominations[3], including honors from the Iris Prize[4], Zurich's Pink Apple[5], the Short Movie Awards, the Provincetown International Film Festival, the Big Muddy Film Festival, and Newfest.
In 2008, Heck traveled to the tallest peak in the world, Mount Everest, where she lived with a professional climbing team as part of her research for an upcoming feature film.
She currently lives in New York City and resides part-time in Los Angeles, CA.
Background, Education, and Early Career
Heck grew up in Massachusetts and Singapore. She worked in front of the camera in her early teens, and was featured in national TV commercials before moving permanently behind the scenes in the early 2000s. In 1998 she was the subject of an episode of the Travel Channel's American Journey series. Heck is an avid cyclist and American Journey followed her as she embarked on the Boston-New York AIDSRide, a yearly charitable event for cyclists.
She is a graduate of two prestigious film programs, New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and Columbia University School of the Arts.
Notable Collaborations and Affiliations
In 2001, Heck co-founded Brooklyn-based Charged Animation with filmmakers Scott Rosann, Tunde Adebimpe, Alex Cohn, and Adam Pierce.
In 2004 Heck worked with fine artist Eve Sussman to produce 89 Seconds at Alcazar, a live-action piece based on the 1656 Diego Velázquez painting Las Meninas. Alcazar was an official selection of the 2004 Whitney Biennial and was subsequently purchased by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City. She has also worked with fine artist Mark Tribe on his ongoing Port Huron Project.[6]
In 2006, Heck collaborated with fellow Columbia University film student Madeleine Olnek to write Hold Up,[7] an award-winning short film that was featured at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The film also received the Audience Award for favorite short film at Newfest.
Ms. Heck has worked as a producer at networks including VH1, G4/TechTV, CurrentTV, and Bravo. She has shadow directed on Showtime's Dexter (TV Series) (with Steve Schill) and TNT's Leverage (TV series) (with Rod Hardy.)
In 2008, she served briefly as an adjunct professor of film at Manhattanville College.
Partial Filmography
- 89 Seconds at Alcazar (2004, HD)
- The Last Days of Leni Riefenstahl (2005, DV)
- Hold Up (2006, DV)
- Airplanes (2007, 35mm)
- Salamander (2009, 16mm)
References
- ^ http://www.psfilmfest.org/festival/film/detail.aspx?id=18997&FID=31/
- ^ http://filmguide.hamptonsfilmfest.org/tixSYS/2007/filmguide/title/detail/
- ^ http://www.nywift.org/article.aspx?id=649
- ^ http://www.irisprize.org/10898.html
- ^ http://www.pinkapple.ch/2009/static/winners.html
- ^ http://www.marktribe.net/art/port-huron-project
- ^ http://www.holdupmovie.com/