Jen McGowan's first feature, KELLY & CAL, starring Juliette Lewis, Cybill Shepherd and Jonny Weston premiered at SXSW where she won the Gamechanger Director Award. The film was released theat ...Show More
Jen McGowan's first feature, KELLY & CAL, starring Juliette Lewis, Cybill Shepherd and Jonny Weston premiered at SXSW where she won the Gamechanger Director Award. The film was released theatrically by IFC Films to rave reviews such as comparing McGowan to the likes of Alexander Payne and Nicole Holofcener.McGowan's previous short films CONFESSIONS OF A LATE BLOOMER and TOUCH played at over one hundred film festivals worldwide, winning a majority, and have been distributed by PBS, NBC Universal, Shorts International and Canal Plus. TOUCH became eligible for the short film Oscar when it won the qualifying Florida Film Festival.Early in her career, McGowan worked her way up the commercial production ladder at many notable production companies including RSA, Radical and Propaganda and was fortunate to work on many features including the Oscar-winning BOYS DON'T CRY.McGowan studied directing in the MFA program at USC where she was honored with a scholarship from Women in Film and a grant from The Caucus Foundation. She received her BFA in Acting at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, studying under David Mamet, Bill Macy & Sam Shepard at the Atlantic Theatre.She is an active member of The Alliance of Women Directors and Film Fatales. McGowan created Filmpowered.com, the online skill-sharing site for women in Film & TV. The site was named Best in LA of 2016 by LA Weekly, featured in Indiewire, included in the Sundance Women's Initiative Resource List and supported by the PGA, WGA, ICG and others.She is a Film Independent Fellow, was a finalist for the Clint Eastwood Filmmakers Award, recipient of the Alliance of Women Directors Breakout Award for Excellence in Directing and was included on Vulture's list of Women Directors Hollywood Should Be Hiring. Hide
