Biographie
Ian Kessner, born in Montreal, Canada, relocated to New York after earning a degree in Cinema Studies from the University of Western Ontario. He attended NYU’s summer film program and directed Gone Fishin', which premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival before securing distribution and screening internationally.
He later signed with Viacom, co-creating the TV series Twisted Puppet Theater for Showtime (13 episodes) and The Dopes (pilot) for MTV. Ian also wrote, directed, and produced music videos for E!'s Fashion Week, the episode No Fear for Broadway Video/Comedy Central's Musical Shorts (pilot), and 22 comedic interstitial shorts titled Chop Suey TV for USA Network’s USA LIVE programming block, winning the inaugural Time Warner/Reel Time Online Film Festival.
During this period, Ian co-wrote the screenplays Generous Heart Inc. and Chaotica with NY indie filmmaker Amos Poe (Blank Generation, Alphabet City). He developed, directed, and produced the David Blaine: Street Magic demo and served as a consulting producer on the subsequent ABC Special.
In 1998, Ian moved to Los Angeles, directing reshoots for Wes Craven's Carnival of Souls for Trimark Pictures and the 35mm short The Puzzle, which premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival. The Puzzle won "Best Short" at the 1998 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival and was featured on Sci-Fi Channel's Exposure Series.
Ian earned his MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute in 2002. His thesis film, Pack Of Dogs, premiered at the Palm Springs Film Festival and is distributed by Hypnotic Films. It won the 2002 FotoKem Production Award.
He is developing several projects, including Leopard In The Sun, produced with Muse Film’s Chris Hanley (Virgin Suicides, American Psycho) for acclaimed writer/director Adrian Caetano (Red Bear, Buenos Aires, 1977), as well as the feature Glow, based on the true story of ecstasy kingpin Sean Erez.
As of 2007, Ian is refining his latest script, One Flesh, a supernatural story exploring possession and past lives.
