A Chat with Film Producer Jennifer Holness

We speak with Jennifer Holness, one of the most powerful women in the Canadian Entertainment Industry about her career, the challenges she has faced as a Black Woman in the business and her advice for the next generation of female filmmakers.

Jennifer Holness is a passionate documentary filmmaker who recently directed her first feature, Subjects of Desire, exploring Black women and beauty. The film premiered at SXSW, followed by Hot Docs, where it was a top ten Audience favourite, and will air on Starz, TVO, and Crave. She co-produced the feature doc Stateless with director Michele Stephenson for PBS/POV and the National Film Board. It premiered at Tribeca and Hot Docs in 2020, winning the Special Jury Prize and Best Feature Doc at Black Star.

Jen is the Executive Producer of Black Zombie, a feature doc in production with CBC’s Doc Channel, and is producing her first History Channel series, BLK: An Origin Story, where she serves as showrunner and director with Sudz Sutherland. Her TV documentaries include Badge of Pride (CBC & PBS), Brick By Brick (Omni), Yin Yin Jade Love (TVO), and Speakers For the Dead (CBC/NFB), which she co-directed with Sutherland. In drama, Jen has created, written, and produced TV series like Shoot the Messenger (CBC, WGN/USA) and Guns (CBC), winning multiple Canadian Screen Awards and a Rose D’Or nomination.

Jen co-wrote and produced the feature Home Again, which won the Planet Africa Film Fest-BAFTA Festival Choice Award and was nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards. She also co-wrote and produced Love, Sex and Eating the Bones, which won seven festival awards, including Best First Canadian Feature at TIFF. Her short film My Father’s Hands won the HBO Award for Best Short and five Golden Sheaf Awards. She is working on two dramatic features, RipTide, co-written with Malin Ackerman and Lyriq Bent, and 40 Acres, R.T. Thorne’s debut feature.

#season 21