About JEN HECK

Jen Heck is an American writer, director, and producer best known for her award-winning films. Her career as a filmmaker started in music; in the late 1990s, while still in college in New York City, she worked as a photojournalist with artists including Alanis, Foo Fighters, Prince, the Beastie Boys, Luscious Jackson, Ani DiFranco, New Found Glory, Fat Joe, and others. By 2003 she had shifted to television, working as a producer for VH1, and later as a shooter and director for several MTV documentary series.

 During this time Jen also began developing her own work, and in 1999 she and several partners (including Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio) co-founded Charged Productions, a Brooklyn-based animation studio that’s still operational today.

 Her most recent film, The Promised Band, is a love story of sorts about of a group of young women in Israel and Palestine who, despite their dubious musical skills and opposite backgrounds, start a band as a cover story to hide the friendships they’re determined to keep. As a band, they’re able to slip across otherwise forbidden borders, where they make awkward music and life-changing revelations...together. Completed in 2016, that film won Cinequest’s Best Documentary Award, and the Canon/Atomos Filmmaker Award.

 Just as she was beginning her MFA in Directing at Columbia University, her film 89 Seconds at Alcazar (co-produced with Eve Sussman and starring Peter Dinklage of Game of Thrones) was selected for the highly-prestigious Whitney Biennial. During that time, she also shadow directed on Showtime's Dexter (with Steve Shill) and TNT's Leverage (with Rod Hardy).

Her film Hold Up, (writer, producer) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. Award-winning short films Airplanes (director, writer, producer) and Salamander (director, writer, producer) followed in subsequent years, and were featured at major film festivals including São Paulo, Palm Springs, Hamptons, Woodstock, and more. In 2010, Jen was nominated for the Iris Prize by current Sundance Film Festival Director Kimberly Yutani (for Salamander). She has also been recognized twice by New York Women in Film and Television for Outstanding Achievement by Women. She’s a Film Independent Fellow for The Promised Band.

 Ms. Heck is currently a Supervising Producer on the hit TV show House Hunters International, where she has produced over 1000 episodes as a senior creative. Her most recent personal project was a collaboration with Van Jones about musician Prince's secret philanthropic work.

Ms. Heck is also a mom. She currently resides in the Boston area with her daughter, her son, and her partner Carolina.