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Brian Jun

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Brian Jun
Born (1979-10-21) October 21, 1979 (age 45)
Alton, Illinois, United States
Occupation(s)Film director, writer, editor
Years active2000 - present

Brian Jun (born October 21, 1979) is an American film director, screenwriter, film editor and producer. Jun has made two short films, Jimmy Brown and Researching Raymond Burke. Jun won the Sundance Channel Emerging Director Award in 2006 at the St. Louis Film Festival for his first feature film Steel City. The film also received a nomination for the grand prize jury award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. As of June 2008, his second feature film The Thacker Case is in post-production.

Early career

Since he was a child, Jun always had an interest in film and literature and, inspired by the work of Sam Shepard, Neil Simon and Samuel Beckett, he began to create his own characters and to write screenplays.[1] Jun attended Webster University in St. Louis, where he learned the basics of filmmaking. Jun's first work was the short film Jimmy Brown, an hospital drama dealing with racial issues. The film was based around conversations between two characters, played by Dennis Lebby and Jun himself. A screening of the film at Los Angeles Shorts Film Festival led to the opportunity to make another short for Fox Searchlab; a program run by Fox Searchlight Pictures with the aim of nurturing up-and-coming talent. The result of this was Researching Raymond Burke, a short featuring John Heard. Jun's original plan was for this to be a tester to a feature film entitled In the World of Raymond Burke but he did not manage to acquire the capital to produce the film and the project was abandoned.[2]

Steel City

The collapse of this project inspired Jun to make his next film on a much lower budget.[1] The product of this was the film Steel City. John Heard had remained interested in working with Jun and his involvement with the new film led to interest from Your Half Pictures. This marked the end of two years of searching for a production company as the Los Angeles firm agreed to produce the film. The idea of family breakdown interested Jun and a mix of this idea with midwestern economic downturn formed the basis for Steel City.[2] In addition to Heard, the film starred America Ferrera and Raymond J. Barry, who later received a nomination for best supporting actor from the Spirit Awards for his role in the film.[3]

The film received a nomination for the grand prize jury award following its screening at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. The film was generally received well by critics: reviews from both The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly praised the strength in depth of the supporting characters.[4][5] However both also acknowledged the debut film's flaws. The New York Times notes flaws in the script: "Heard has to utter the wince-inducing line "I wanted to be a better dad," but mostly Mr. Jun's script is sharp". Entertainment Weekly summarised that "Steel City could have used more rhythmic drive, but if Jun keeps weaving together characters this compelling, he could be a major film artist in the making". Time Out also pointed out that the film had the teething problems of a first effort but otherwise praised the script and the casts performance.[6]

Post Steel City projects

Following the success of Steel City Jun was offered more filmmaking work. This included his self-penned second feature film The Thacker Case, a drama featuring Eliza Dushku. As of June 2008 The Thacker Case is in post-production and the Jeff Buckley biopic remains in the script writing stage.

Jun served as a "screen writer in residence" at Interlochen Arts Academy High School in 2011-2012.

Filmography

Year Film
2001 Jimmy Brown
2002 Researching Raymond Burke
2006 Steel City
2008 The Thacker Case
2011 Joint Body

References

  1. ^ a b "Park City '06: Brian Jun". IndieWIRE. Retrieved 2008-05-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b "Interview: Filmmaker Brian Jun". Chicagoist. Retrieved 2008-05-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ "2006 Independent Spirit Award Nominations". about.com. Retrieved 2008-05-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Genzlinger, Neil (2007-05-25). "A Study of Male Family Dynamics". The New York Times (May 25, 2007). Retrieved 2008-05-31. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "Movie Review: Steel City". Entertainment Weekly (May 22, 2007). 2007-05-23. Retrieved 2008-05-31. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "Steel City Review". Timeout (June 20, 2007). Retrieved 2008-05-31. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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