Contributor

Andrew Jenks

Award-winning filmmaker

Award-winning filmmaker Andrew Jenks has lived in New York City, Katmandu, Nepal, Brussels, Belgium, and Japan.

When Andrew was 16-years-old, he founded the Hendrick Hudson Film Festival. By its second year, the festival hosted keynote speaker James Earl Jones and has since become one of the largest high school film festivals in the United States.

At age 19, Andrew moved into an assisted living facility in Florida in order to capture "the meaning of life" from its elderly residents. What started as a simple, low-budget documentary turned into an international hit. Andrew Jenks, Room 335 starring Jenks and a group of the facility’s residents, went on to win top prizes several international film festivals. The film has since premiered on network television in Australia and Europe. HBO released the film domestically in January 2008 to rave reviews and critical acclaim. The New York Daily News said, ‘It's almost impossible to believe that a kid could produce a documentary like this. It's a gorgeous, hilarious, sad, wonderful, unblinking look at the joy of life - even at the end of it...Bravo, Andrew Jenks. Brilliant.’ The New York Times said, ‘Jenks takes his camera into a world that is usually invisible and shines a light on a population that many of us would just as soon forget.’ At 21-years-old, ESPN financed Andrew’s second film, The Zen of Bobby V, which tracked Bobby Valentine, a highly regarded American baseball coach who became a national icon as the first American manager to win the Japanese Series. The film premiered at the 2008 TriBeca Film Festival. Ain’t It Cool News said the film was ‘a most intriguing journey on the other side of the world…with a fine balance between praise and perspective, painting a great portrait that makes this viewer want to have a satellite hookup to catch Japanese baseball.’

In fall 2010, Jenks took viewers on unforgettable journeys as he captured a wide range of voices and personal stories in a his new docu-series on MTV, World of Jenks. The series launch garnered over 5-million viewers, marking the highest rated series launch in the network’s history. In each episode, the 24-year-old Jenks focused his lens and created a bond with an individual subject to tell the unique story of their young life, bringing viewers closer to understanding someone else’s reality. From a platinum-selling recording artist to a young homeless woman, a pro-cheerleader to a young adult with Autism, Jenks dove wholeheartedly into twelve disparate lives and in the process pioneered a new style of storytelling for this generation of young people. “Andrew Jenks is a maverick filmmaker with a great vision and a dynamic on-screen presence,” said Tony DiSanto, President of Programming for MTV. “Each week, Jenks immerses himself into a different person’s world and reveals unique slices of American life, uncovering incredible stories and people along the way. He has a rare ability to deeply connect with his subjects, making this series an intensely authentic and engaging viewing experience.” CNN described the show as 'surprisingly poignant,’ while ABC News remarked, “I'm always intrigued by fascinating people and hidden subcultures, especially when they're reported on in an honest, sympathetic way. Which Jenks can obviously do.” Popeater.com said, “The 24-year-old filmmaker brings a fresh and intelligent perspective to MTV in his new show, 'World of Jenks.'”

Andrew has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, CBS’ The Early Show, Fox News Channel’s Fox and Friends, MSNBC, CNN, and has been interviewed on dozens of other television and radio programs worldwide. His work has been featured in magazines and newspapers, including the New York Times, Variety, New York Magazine, Teen Vogue, TimeOut, and the Herald Tribune.