Jan Jalenak began as an actor and playwright and is a lifetime member of the Actors Studio. Her early training with the legendary Sanford Meisner instilled fearlessness to dig deep with her art. Jan directed her first full length play, Touch My Face at the Fourth Street Theater in NYC. Her work has been produced throughout theaters in NYC. As a film writer and director, she made her award winning first short, You Can Kiss Me before finishing A Shattering. Part of her full length play, Stuck in Memphis, was made into a short film, entitled Stuck in Muskogee. Jan is looking forward to directing her scripts, Misanthrope on Vacation and The Happy Family, which are both in preproduction!
Please List the Title of Your Film at BIFF 2025
A SHATTERING
What was your first experience with film and how did it influence your first project?
My first experience with film was playing an auto mechanic in the deep South who runs off with charming German bullfighter/gangster. It was a bit of guerrilla filmmaking and though filled with chaos, it was very creative, directed with love and everybody was a team player!
Who are your favorite Filmmakers?
When I discovered the new wave filmmakers like Truffaut and Godard, I felt swept away into a foreign world that felt like home to my imagined self. Truffaut especially, and Godard. Then the Danish filmmakers, withnthe DOGME 95 films, and of course the wonderful American filmmakers, Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet, Billy Wilder, Hitchcock – too many to name. And I adore all of the Thin Man movies!!
What are you working on that no one knows about?
That no one knows about? I have a non-memoir I work on from time to time that delves into the things I cannot remember…
Who would play you in a movie? What’s your go to movie snack? What’s the film title that best describes your life?
Play me in a movie: I’ll take Diane Lane! Go to movie snack, popcorn, twizzlers and raisonetes, all 3 together if I am feeling particularly naughty. Film title that best describes my life: A Lovely Chaos.
