Jonathan Blitstein

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Jonathan Blitstein (born in Lake Forest, Illinois) is an American indie filmmaker and screenwriter. He graduated from Highland Park High School (Highland Park, Illinois).

A graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts undergraduate film program, he finished shooting his debut feature length film Let Them Chirp Awhile 4 days before he turned 24 years old. Blitstein claimed he was the youngest filmmaker in America to complete a 35mm feature film on the day his film finished production. Partial funding for the film came from NYU's Richard Vague Award^[1] Previously he made a short film called The Fisherboy which premiered at the Rhode Island Film Festival in 2005.^[2]

Blitstein made his first short films when he was 8 years old using a 1980's Zenith 8mm video camera. Originally interested in acting and singing, he performed in school and local theater productions in the Chicago suburbs.

Blitstein graduated in 3 years from NYU and spent much of his time there watching DVDs, reading poetry, plays, and other literature in addition to working in various aspects of production including work as a production assistant and boom operator on student films. Blitstein made a brief foray out of the film school and into the College of Arts and Sciences earning enough credits for a Minor in English and American Letters before returning to the film program to finish his degree. He has lectured at American high schools and professional acting studios about the process of filmmaking. In 2007 he participated on a panel at the Santa Fe Film Festival about independent filmmaking called "Bootstrap Cinema".^[3]

Blitstein describes himself as someone who pays 'meticulous attention to detail' in his creative work. In interviews he has cited filmmaker influences ranging from silent filmmakers such as F.W. Murnau and Charles Chaplin to Italian filmmakers like Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni as well as Hollywood filmmakers Tim Burton, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen and Frank Capra.

He has one sibling, Ryan Blitstein, who is an American journalist. They are first-cousins to Jeremy Stoppelman who is the CEO/co-founder of Yelp.com. Blitstein is also a first-cousin to Darren Spitzer, lead singer of The Changes (band) who contributed songs to the film. Blitstein is a collaborator and lifelong friend of cinematic-pop rock musician Bryan Scary who also contributed songs to the film.^[4]