About

JENNIFER REDFEARN IS AN ACADEMY AWARD-NOMINATED DIRECTOR


About Jennifer

Jennifer Redfearn is an Academy Award-nominated director with a filmmaking approach that the press has described as “beautifully cinematic” and “intensely human.” She directed Sun Come Up, about a small island community losing their land to rising seas. Sun Come Up was nominated for an Academy Award and screened in theaters across the U.S.  Tocando La Luz/Touch the Light premiered at Full Frame, winning the Charles E. Guggenheim Award and aired on PBS/World. Landfill Harmonic (Field Director/Consulting Producer/Add’l Camera) won the audience award at SXSW, aired on HBO, and is streaming on Amazon. Her most recent film, Apart, follows mothers transitioning home from prison. Apart premiered at Hot Docs and recently aired on PBS/Independent Lens. Jennifer has produced documentaries for PBS, HBO, National Geographic, CNN, Discovery, and dozens of short films. Her work has been recognized in Variety, the LA Times, the New York Times, and NPR, among other outlets.

She serves as the Director of the Documentary Program at U.C. Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Her research interests include the environment, mass incarceration, AI, in-depth character-driven stories, and emerging forms of visual storytelling.

GRANTS and CO-PRODUCTION PARTNERS

Jennifer has received co-production funding from ITVS/PBS and grants from several institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts, Chicken & Egg Pictures, IDA’s Enterprise Fund, Tribeca Film Institute, Fork Films, New York State Council on the Arts, LEF Foundation’s Moving Image Fund, and New York Women in Film and Television.

SELECTED FILM SCREENINGS


SUN COME UP (OSCAR NOMINEE)

IFC Center, New York NY
LAEM Sunset 5, West Hollywood CA
Coolidge Corner Cinema, Brookline MA
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston TX


APART

Hot Docs, International Premiere
Full Frame, U.S. Premiere
Human Rights Watch Film Festival, NY Premiere
Cleveland International Film Festival


TOCANDO LA LUZ/TOUCH THE LIGHT

Full Frame Film Festival, Charles E. Guggenheim Award
DOCNYC, NY Premiere
Miami International Film Festival
New Orleans Film Festival


LANDFILL HARMONIC (Field Director & Consulting Producer)

SXSW, Premiere & Audience Award
AFI Fest
Cinema Village, NY
Telluride Mountain Film Festival

Selected Awards

  • Academy Award Nomination for Sun Come Up
  • International Documentary Association’s Pare Lorentz Nominee for Sun Come Up
  • Charles E. Guggenheim Award for Tocando la Luz (Touch the Light)
  • Webby Honoree for Rite of Passage (Producer)
  • Fotoweek DC International, 2nd place for Broken Lines, (Producer)
  • Fotoweek DC International, Honorable Mention for Rite of Passage, (Producer)
  • Webby Nominee for When the Water Ends, (Producer)
  • World Press Photo Nominee for When the Water Ends, (Producer)
  • World Press Photo Nominee for Mr. Blues, (Producer)
  • Anthropographia Nominee for When the Water Ends, (Producer)
  • Online Journalism Awards for When the Water Ends, (Producer)
  • Webby Honoree for Global Governance Monitor, (Producer)