Jan Oxenberg
{{short description|American film producer}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jan Oxenberg
| alt = Jan Oxenberg
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1950}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, United States
| education = Barnard College,
California Institute of the Arts
| known_for = Feminist Lesbian Films,
Film Production
}}
Jan Oxenberg (born 1950) is an American film producer, director, editor, and screenwriter. She is known for her work in lesbian feminist films and in television.{{cite book |last= Wolf|first= Deborah Goleman|date= 1980|title= The Lesbian Community|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=gpdBrw7t47oC&q=%22jan%20oxenberg%20is%22&pg=PA182|publisher= University of California Press|isbn= 9780520042483}}{{cite journal |last= Citron|first= Michelle|date= March 1981|title= The films of Jan Oxenberg: Comic critique|url= https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC24-25folder/JanOxenberg.html|journal= Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media|access-date= April 14, 2017}}
Career
Oxenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1950.{{Cite web|url=https://voices.revealdigital.com/?a=d&d=EFGABHD19760301.1.3&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN---------------1|title=The Lesbian Tide (1974) March-April, 1976 — Independent Voices|date=1974|website=voices.revealdigital.com|access-date=2019-10-02}}
She attended Barnard College for two years where she was active in the experimental college, a collaborative, co-living, and self-directed schooling experiment between Barnard and Columbia University starting in 1968.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fhiZFpE77tkC|title=Changing the Subject: How the Women of Columbia Shaped the Way We Think About Sex and Politics|last=Rosenberg|first=Rosalind|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2004|isbn=9780231501149|location=New York City, New York|pages=277}} Oxenberg transferred to California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) and initially she studied feminist art with Judy Chicago and Miriam Shapiro, but later transferring into the CalArts film school. In 1972, Oxenberg was one of the many participants in Womanhouse, the first feminist art installation and performance art (specifically within the art pieces - Three Women, Birth Trilogy, Necco Wafers).{{Cite web|url=http://www.womanhouse.net/the-artists|title=Artists Womanhouse|website=WOMANHOUSE|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-02}}
In the 1970s, she was involved with ELF (education liberation front), a traveling educational resource, carrying information and books on liberation movements, racism, ecology and more. Around 1974, she was active in producing a radio series called "Lesbian Sisters" on KPFK Los Angeles.
She has also worked as a producer and writer on Pretty Little Liars. Other credits include Nothing Sacred, Cold Case, Kidnapped, In Plain Sight, and Chicago Hope.
Since 2013, Oxenberg has been adapting James Ellroy's memoir, My Dark Places for a screenplay and film production by Myriad Pictures.{{Cite web|url=https://www.powerupfilms.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52:jan-oxenberg&catid=8:honorary-board&Itemid=37|title=Jan Oxenberg|website=www.powerupfilms.org|access-date=2019-10-08|archive-date=2013-11-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131111201550/http://www.powerupfilms.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52:jan-oxenberg&catid=8:honorary-board&Itemid=37|url-status=dead}}{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2003/scene/markets-festivals/artisan-goes-to-dark-places-1117880883/|title=Artisan goes to 'Dark Places'|last1=Harris|first1=Dana|date=2003-02-21|website=Variety|language=en|access-date=2019-10-09}}
Personal life
Oxenberg is Jewish,{{cite web|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/filmmakers-independent-north-american|title=Filmmakers, Independent North American|last1=Kaufman|first1=Deborah|date=27 February 2009|website=Jewish Women's Archive}} and openly lesbian.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHa7KqnQ4C&q=Jan+Oxenberg+lesbian&pg=PA169|title=Women Film Directors: An International Bio-critical Dictionary|last1=Foster|first1=Gwendolyn Audrey|date=1995|publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=0313289727|page=87}}{{Cite web|url=https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=ccom_papers|title=Women film directors and producers|last=Savage|first=Ann M.|date=2008|website=Digital Commons at Butler University|page=387|access-date=2019-10-01|quote=Jan Oxenberg's experimental short Home Movie (1972 ), frequently regarded as one of the first lesbian feminist films, details the filmmaker's life as a young girl encouraged to be feminine, contrasted with coming out as an adult.}} Oxenberg has been out as a lesbian since the early portion of the second wave feminist movement.{{Cite book|title=First Person Jewish|last=Lebow|first=Alisa|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|year=2008|isbn=9780816643547|pages=111}} For many years, she dated musician Sonia Wieder-Atherton.
Filmography
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0654548}}
- [https://directories.wga.org/member/8b39e22e-7a17-44e8-aa18-986661e2eed8 Jan Oxenberg] at Writers Guild of America West
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20180206164350/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba19a7798 Jan Oxenberg] at BFI
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxenberg, Jan}}
Category:American women film directors
Category:American women film producers
Category:American lesbian artists
Category:American lesbian writers
Category:American LGBTQ film directors
Category:American women film editors
Category:Film producers from New York (state)
Category:Film directors from New York City
Category:Filmmakers from Brooklyn
Category:Barnard College alumni