Jennifer Abbott

DIRECTOR, EDITOR

Jennifer Abbott is a documentary maker, cultural activist and editor with a particular interest in producing media that shifts perspectives on problematic social norms and practices. In addition to co-directing and editing THE CORPORATION, she produced, directed and edited A Cow at My Table, a feature documentary about meat, culture and animals, which won 8 international awards.

Her other past works include the experimental short and video installation about interracial relationships Skinned which toured North America and Europe including New York's Museum of Modern Art. Abbott has also edited numerous documentaries, installations and performance works including Two Brides And A Scalpel: Diary of a Lesbian Marriage, produced and directed by Mark Achbar. She is the editor and a contributing writer for the book Making Video "In": The Contested Ground of Alternative Video on the West Coast. She lives on Galiano Island.

To book Jennifer for a speaking engagement, please contact Evil Twin Booking.

Statement

As a teenager, fragments of information came my way that betrayed earlier ideas I had been taught about many issues: the food we eat, American foreign policy, the rich and the poor, etc. In those moments of betrayal, I became a non-stop questioner and struggled to find ways to explore what I perceived as our most problematic social norms and practices, and especially how we come to accept these as "normal." I also felt the need to find my voice within a society that I frequently felt alienated from, and to explore an individual artistic practice. Filmmaking offered me a way to express my ideas publicly and I seized it as socially engaged communication as well as an artistic medium.

I live on Galiano Island, a tiny island in the Pacific Ocean where I see crossbills and eagles daily and look across the Trincomalli Channel to Salt Spring and the San Juan Islands. It is here that The Corporation was edited, and where I developed a deep understanding of why the richness of the world is worth working hard for. The Corporation to me is many things, but it resonates most strongly as a gesture towards exposing the destructive nature of that institution. It is my hope that the film will contribute to change made possible by ever-growing awareness.

-- Jennifer Abbott