Jennifer Kroot is an American filmmaker whose films include the documentaries '' It Came From Kuchar'' (2009) and ''

To Be Takei ''To Be Takei'' is a 2014 American documentary film produced and directed by Jennifer M. Kroot. The film had its world premiere at 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 18, 2014. After its premiere at Sundance Film Festival, '' Starz Digital Me ...

'' (2014).

Career

Kroot studied filmmaking at the

San Francisco Art Institute San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) was a private college of contemporary art in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1871, SFAI was one of the oldest art schools in the United States and the oldest west of the Mississippi River. Approximately ...

, where she met George Kuchar. Kuchar's "influence helped shape her films, such as the campy sci-fi satire ''Sirens of the 23rd Century''." Her follow up to ''Sirens'' was the film '' It Came From Kuchar,'' a documentary feature about twin underground filmmakers George and

Mike Kuchar Mike Kuchar (born August 31, 1942 in New York City) is an American underground filmmaker, actor, and artist. Kuchar is notable for his low-budget and camp films such as '' Sins of the Fleshapoids'' and ''The Craven Sluck''. Biography Raised in The ...

. Featuring interviews from

Guy Maddin Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...

, John Waters,

Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...

, Wane Wang and Buck Henry, ''It Came from Kuchar "''crams a true cornucopia of excerpts from the prolific brothers’ output," which includes their early 8mm films from the 1950s and 1960s, as well as their 16mm classic, ''The Corruption of the Damned.'' ''It Came from Kuchar'' premiered at the 2008

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

and was later broadcast on

KQED KQED may refer to: * KQED (TV), a PBS member station in San Francisco * KQED-FM KQED-FM (88.5 MHz) is a NPR-member radio station in San Francisco, California. Its parent organization is KQED Inc., which also owns its television partners, both ...

's Truly CA. For her next project, Kroot decided to follow celebrity and activist, George Takei. ''

'' premiered at the

2014 Sundance Film Festival The 2014 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance Resort in Utah. The festival opened with ''Whiplash'' directed by Da ...

and was later sold to Starz Digital Media. The film screened at a number of other film festivals worldwide, including

Hot Docs The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...

and IDFA. Kroot's 2017 film, ''The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin'', is a portrait of renowned novelist Armistead Maupin, author of the '' Tales of The City'' series of novels that were later adapted for PBS and Netflix. Featuring interviews with

Laura Linney Laura Leggett Linney (born February 5, 1964) is an American actress. Having studied acting at Juilliard School (1986-1990), she became known for her complex and multilayered performances on stage and screen. She has received various accolades, ...

Ian McKellen Sir Ian Murray McKellen (born 25 May 1939) is an English actor. His career spans seven decades, having performed in genres ranging from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction. Regarded as a British cultural i ...

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not lon ...

Jonathan Groff Jonathan Drew Groff (born March 26, 1985) is an American actor and singer . He began his career on Broadway, rising to prominence for his portrayal of Melchior Gabor in the original production of '' Spring Awakening'' (2006-2008), for which h ...

Neil Gaiman Neil Richard MacKinnon GaimanBorn as Neil Richard Gaiman, with "MacKinnon" added on the occasion of his marriage to Amanda Palmer. ; ( Neil Richard Gaiman; born 10 November 1960) is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, gr ...

, Amy Tan, and Jewell Gomez, ''The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin'' premiered at the 2017

, where it won the Audience Award in the Documentary Spotlight section. It premiered on PBS's Independent Lens on January 1, 2018, and is currently streaming on Netflix. In 2018, Kroot was invited to membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She also co-writes a column for the San Francisco Bay Times about politics and culture in San Francisco.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kroot, Jennifer M. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American film directors American documentary film directors San Francisco Art Institute alumni 21st-century American women American women documentary filmmakers