Born on Christmas Eve 1982 in Grass Valley, California, Jennifer moved to
the Bay Area when she was three and grew up in Lafayette, California.
Graduating from Acalanes High School she received her BA in
Anthropology and Cinema from San Francisco State University. She is
currently working on her Masters Degree at the University of British
Columbia in Visual Anthropology. Jennifer graduated from Acalanes High School and received her BA in
Anthropology and Cinema from San Francisco State University. She is
currently working on her Masters Degree at the University of British
Columbia in Visual Anthropology.
Her current film projects are on participatory documentaries with
youth. She uses film as a medium to engage kids and teens in
conversations about their own experiences as a way for youth to
communicate to their larger communities. In 2006, for her first short
film, she spent 9 months in Hunters Point, San Francisco collaborating
with the fifth graders of the school. Capturing the voice of the youth,
the film is being used to recruit tutors and gather support for the
school.
For her MA thesis, she is working with a First Nation's teen drop in
center in British Columbia exploring issues of racism, foster care,
depression, alcohol abuse, and suicide through film and photography
projects with the teenagers who attend the center. The film explores
these issues as well as the youth's creation of a street family they
have created at the teen center as a way to cope with these enormous
challenges.
