JAMIE DEWOLF is a film-maker, producer, performer and writer from Oakland, CA. Winner of the “Best Filmmaker” Award voted by the East Bay Express, DeWolf has directed over 90 short films, commercials, documentaries and music videos that have played at festivals across the world. His films have more than 5 million international shared views. His background as a performance artist and educator inform his vivid exploration of a wide range of genres and voices, and cinematic approach of bringing the lens to underserved communities.
His notable achievements include the Bigger Picture Project, where he lead writing workshops for young poets in partnership with medical professionals on the subject of diabetes prevention, food justice, and social health. These month-long workshops lead to polished poems, which were then transformed into over 35 short films featuring performance, music, documentary, and divergent cinematic styles. The films went on to win numerous awards world-wide, including the Grand Prize for Real Food Media two years in a row, the Sacramento Food Film Festival, the Spirit of 1948 Award from the American Public Health Association, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California Grand Prize. They have been featured multiple times on UpWorthy and PBS, and were showcased in the NY Times in 2018. The program has expanded state-wide, leading to writing workshops with at risk populations in divergent communities, a Spanish-language website, and two bi-lingual films. The films have continued their reach internationally, featuring in showcases as far away as the Czech Republic.
DeWolf also partnered with The Center for Investigative Reporting and Youth Speaks to create the Off/Page Project, a trilogy of films that paired hard journalism with poetic storytelling, on-the-scene documentation, and civic engagement. The films ranged in topic from investigations on unreported sexual assaults of migrant farmworkers, the fiscal corruption of the Richmond Housing Authority, and youth locked in solitary confinement. They have been showcased on KQED, the SF Chronicle, UpWorthy and NPR. His partnerships with non-profit programs lead him to helm national film campaigns for the Raise Up Project, focusing on the high school dropout crisis, and the Write Home Project, which was coupled with a writing program on youth homelessness. He has mentored students for Digital Storytellers, Roots Academy, and Lunchbox International. He’s also directed commercials and PSAs for clients such as Leapfrog Educational Toys, Facebook, the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, the Anita Borg Institute, and the Center for Vulnerable Populations.
DeWolf wrote and directed his first feature film Smoked, a “fast paced, smart, witty dark comedy crime caper” about a botched Cannabis Club robbery in Oakland. The film is described as “Mean, bloody and demented. It’s also hilarious, and an insanely energetic romp.” Smoked was picked up for international distribution by Indican Studios, who also released the cult film Boondock Saints. DeWolf’s original short films, known for their provocative and boundary pushing subject matter, have won multiple awards from “Best Acting Performance” (A Girl and a Gun Briefs 2013), “Most Terrifying Storyline” (U Turn Scream 2013), “Best Cinematography” (Ricochet in Reverse Scream 2014), and “Best Writing” (Rio Grind 2014). His short films Hey Baby Hey and OK Monster! both won the Grand Prize Audience Award the year of their premiere. His shorts Double Agent and Black Out were both chosen to be featured at the CineKink Film Festival in NYC. His short U Turn was selected for a The Invoking 2, a feature length horror film anthology franchise by Ruthless Pictures.
This past year DeWolf was chosen to be the director of a new series of films for the XQ Super School Project, for which he was responsible for filming 14 events nationwide from Chicago, IL to Seattle, WA. The films included live interviews and solo performances for a program on young writers rethinking the educational system. Over forty short films created for this project were submitted for a national scholarship contest and a short documentary encapsulating the scope and impact of the program. The end result was broadcast on the national networks ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC. He’s since undertaken a series of short documentaries on the Rise Up program, which uses the hit play Hamilton as a foundation for a new revisionist historical literacy intertwined with writing curriculum for youth.
He continues to direct a variety of projects from award winning narrative short films to music videos for such Bay Area luminaries as the Grammy award winning Fantastic Negrito. He recently received the Kenneth Rainin Open Space Project documentary grant and launched Punch Up Productions, a film company that creates work that incorporate arts, activism and cinema.
