Jen Holness is a happy workaholic. She writes, produces, and directs. She is the first Black woman in Canada to win a CSA (Gemini) for writing and is the 2021 Indiescreen Producer of the Year award-winner. She was also awarded the prestigious WIFT Award of Creative Excellence in March 2022.

Her recent feature doc Subjects of Desire has won numerous awards in the festival circuit. The film aired on TVO in Canada and Starz in the US. Jen co-created the doc series BLK: An Origin Story for History Channel and Global, which tells epic stories of little-known Black Canadian history that premiered in February 2022.

Jen is producing 40 Acres, R.T. Thorne’s debut feature film that is slated for production in spring 2023 and is the Executive Producer of Maya Annik Bedward’s feature doc, Black Zombie, which is in production with CBC’s Doc Channel.

She co-produced the feature doc, Stateless, with director Michele Stephenson (American Promise) for PBS and the National Film Board. Stateless premiered at Tribeca and Hot Docs in 2020 where it won the festival’s Special Jury Prize.

Jen has also produced numerous TV documentaries, including Badge of Pride (CBC & PBS) Min Sook Lee’s film about gay cops that have sold internationally from Israel to Europe. Brick By Brick (Omni), Yin Yin Jade Love (TVO), and Dolores: The Art of Art Modeling (Bravo!). Speakers For The Dead (CBC/NFB), which she co-directed with Sutherland, reveals a hidden Black history in Ontario and she and co-director Sudz Sutherland were invited to Harvard University to present a talk about the film and Canadian Black history.

On the drama side, Jen creates, writes, and produces television series. This includes Shoot the Messenger (CBC, WGN/USA) and Guns (CBC). Jen received a shared Best Writing Canadian Screen Award for Guns, alongside four additional CSA wins and a Rose D’or international nomination for Best Drama. 

Jen’s feature film credits include Home Again, which she co-wrote with partner Sudz Sutherland and produced. The film was sold to the US and internationally and screened theatrically in the UK, Africa, and the Caribbean. It won the Planet Africa Film Fest–BAFTA Festival Choice Award along with a DGC nod for Best Direction for Sutherland. The film was also nominated for two Canadian Screen Awards, including a best supporting nod for Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk) in his feature debut role. 

She also co-wrote the story for and produced the feature, Love, Sex and Eating the Bones which also won 7 festival awards including the Best First Canadian Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was also nominated for 3 Genies for Best Writing, Directing, and Picture. 

My Father’s Hands, a short film she produced won the HBO Award for Best Short film and received 5 Golden Sheaf Awards, including Best - Drama, Director, Script, Music, and Actor, and received a Gemini nomination for Best Short Film. 

Along with her creative work, Jennifer is a dedicated advocate for diversity and mentorship. She is a founding member of the Black Screen Office, a national organization that advocates for creatives and producers in the screen-based industries. She has mentored/hired scores of African Canadians and diverse talent over the past decade and a half, both personally and through working with organizations like The Reel World Film Festival, and Black Women Film! Through Their Eyes, The Toronto Black Film Festival, and the Montreal Black Film Festival. 

Her Board work includes Canadian Media Producer’s Association, Canadian Independent Screen Fund (co-chair) Ontario Creates Industry Board (co-chair), The Regent Park Film Festival, Women In View, Innoversity Creative Summit and CMPA’s Prime Time. 

Even when Jen is working, she keeps it real, raising three spectacular daughters!