Kirk and Kerry

Azazel Jacobs, son of avant-garde filmmaker Ken Jacobs, was born in 1972 and raised in New York’s lower Manhattan, where he was surrounded by important and innovative artists. He went to undergraduate school at the film department of SUNY Purchase and graduated in 1995. His thesis film, “Kirk and Kerry,” won Best Short film at the Slamdance Film Festival in 1997 and recently became part of the permanent collection at the Donnell NY Public Library. In 1999 he moved to Los Angeles to study in the directing program at The American Film Institute. While getting his Masters he made the experimental video “Nobody Needs To Know,” which had its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2003.

Two years later he premiered “The GoodTimesKid,” at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles. The film was co-written with Gerardo Naranjo (director of “Drama/Mex” and the upcoming “Voy A Explotar”) who also starred alongside Azazel’s longtime girlfriend Sara Diaz. The super
low-budget film was a hit with critics and audiences alike and was recently placed in the ‘Top Ten Films of 2007’ by the New York Post. It is scheduled for a DVD release by Benten Films in Spring 2008. In the August 2007 issue of Filmmaker Magazine, Azazel was listed among the ‘25 Directors To Watch’ and he will also be one of MovieMaker’s Magazine ‘10 Directors to Watch’ in a 2008 upcoming issue. —Visit Films