Jessica Gallant

AWARD WINNING CINEMATOGRAPHER JESSICA GALLANT PERSONIFIES EXCELLENCE IN FILMMAKING

By Bruce Edwin 

January 10, 2016

Defying the odds of Hollywood, where the majority of directors and directors of photography are men, Jessica Gallant emerges as one of the entertainment industries most gifted, talented, and professional directors and cinematographers – of ‘any’ gender.

PUNK VETERAN

Hailing from the hometown of Nine Inch Nails front man Trent Reznor, Jessica Gallant led the movement of filmmakers in Cleveland, Ohio in the punk rock music scene, where she honed her craft filming the most notoriously difficult set up’s possible; rock concerts. Any one who has tried to get a clean image with proper lighting during multi-colored lights blinking off and on, and strobe lights flashing psychedelic pulses every second, knows the near impossibility of such a feat. Yet Jessica Gallant not only mastered this, she mastered the next to near impossible other task; documenting punk rock shows, where the crowds did not-needless to say, sit still. Fighting mosh pits and the occasional combat boot flying at her lens, Jessica Gallant proved to not only be a deft filmmaker, but even more so, a cutting edge documentary artist, fearlessly jumping in to the trenches-literally, of the most challenging of circumstances.

As her contemporary Penelope Spheeris was busy covering the So-Cal music scene on the West Coast, Jessica Gallant was back in Cleveland, keeping strong to her roots, and documenting some of the most legendary punk bands of our time back in the 80’s. The award winning cinematographer and director later moved to Los Angeles, and decided to hone her skills and talent even further. She attend Columbia College of Hollywood where she graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA and received the President’s Award.

Since then, Jessica Gallant has shot over 50 feature films, and five feature length documentaries. She also co-produced and directed the now highly collectible punk documentary “This is Drop Dead,” featuring performances by a heaving 20 bands, including the infamous Lene Lovich, Ex Voto, and Ausgang, as well as many rare and exclusive interviews with notable members of the punk scene, among more.

AWARD WINNING DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Jessica is also well known for her work on the award winning independent feature films, “The Playaz Court” (featured in Kodak’s “In Camera” magazine), as well as “Tom’s Wife,” and the cult favorite “Roddenberry on Patrol,” which features many stars from the iconic Star Trek and Star Trek Voyager films. Jessica Gallant has also received wide recognition for the award nominated punk themed comedy series, “Oblivion”, an ITV Festival favorite, with a large online cult following.

TEACHER OF CINEMATOGRAPHY

In 2003, Jessica was elected as one of six female rectors of Photography to speak at the “Kodak Power Up Panel” on “Women Behind the Camera,” further cementing her reputation as one of Hollywood’s most gifted cinematographers to watch. In addition to her film work, Jessica Gallant has written esteemed articles on independent filmmaking for the international British magazine “Showreel.” Jessica Gallant has also proudly taught cinematography at classes for her alma mater. For 23 years, she has also been Administrator for the widely recognized Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), as well as for the FBKSTS award winning and internationally known Cinematographer Mailing List (CML) through Cinematography dot net.

HAILED BY VARIETY

Passionate about the craft of filmmaking, dedicated to her work, and a recognized leader in her field, working constantly and in great demand from her peers, Jessica Gallant is known for her extraordinary professionalism, and her outstanding creative vision. Recognized for her dynamic shots and beautiful compositional techniques, legendary film trade publication “Variety” highly praised her work on the film “Tom’s Wife” that she shot, powerfully stating that “Jessica Gallant’s color lensing is exceptional!”