Filmmakers and Producers

Jennifer Needleman is a rabid and dangerous Hip Hop fan. A third-generation New Yorker, Jennifer is the first member of her family to be openly bicoastal. This writer/director/editor/musician began her creative career as a Hip Hop DJ at Brown University, where she graduated from the creative writing department. Her novella, The Trashbin Index, won her Honors and a Best Story award.

Jennifer then became the head features reporter for the legendary Brooklyn Daily Eagle, where she wrote stories about everything from ice-skating bears to NYPD training procedures. Her work has also appeared in a range of publications, from The New York Times to Variety.

Jennifer relocated to Venice, California with her husband, Matthew, an artist, to attend USC Film School’s Graduate Screenwriting Program. It was there that the I LOVE HIP HOP IN MOROCCO project was conceived, and after convincing buddy Joshua to expand his Fulbright research on Moroccan youth culture and invest in a decent camera, Jennifer found herself filming in the medina of Marrakesh.

After over a year of editing solo, the film was completed in early 2007. Since then, the doc has been making the international festival rounds and has screened everywhere from Montreal to Abu Dhabi to Korea.

Jennifer continues to write, direct and edit films, music videos and trailers. Currently, Jennifer is directing and editing the Behind-the-Scenes for the upcoming Fox Searchlight release, “Notorious”, a film about the life of rap legend, The Notorious B.I.G.

She also continues to develop scripts for television and film projects. She is working on creating an independent distribution collective, which involves young indie filmmakers across the world. Jennifer can play the trumpet pretty well, has a decent record collection and a host of relatives living in rural Sicily.

Samples of her work can be viewed at www.needlegarden.com