Biography

Ian Kessner was born in Montreal, Canada and moved to New York after graduating in Cinema Studies from the University of Western Ontario. He then went on to NYU's summer film program and directed Gone Fishin'. The film premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival before securing distribution and traveling around the world.

Ian then signed with Viacom for whom he co-created the TV series Twisted Puppet Theater for Showtime (13 episodes) and The Dopes (pilot) for MTV. He then 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 called Chop Suey TV for USA Networks USA LIVE block of programming, which won the first Time Warner/Reel Time Online Film Festival.

During this time Ian co-wrote the screenplays Generous Heart Inc., and Chaotica, with NY indie filmmaker Amos Poe (Blank generation, Alphabet City). He then developed, directed and produced the David Blaine: Street Magic demo, and acted as a consulting producer on the subsequent ABC Special.

Ian moved to Los Angeles in 1998 where he directed the re-shoots of Wes Cravens' Carnival of Souls for Trimark Pictures, and the 35mm short The Puzzle which Premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival. The Puzzle won the 1998 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival for "Best Short" and was featured on Sci-Fi Channel's Exposure Series.

Ian graduated with his Directing MFA from the American Film Institute in 2002. His thesis film Pack Of Dogs premiered at the Palm Springs Film Festival and is currently being distributed by Hypnotic Films. It was the winner of the 2002 FotoKem Production award.

Ian is developing a number of projects including Leopard In The Sun which he's producing 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 real life story of ecstasy kingpin Sean Erez.

Currently (2007), Ian's polishing his latest script, One Flesh -- a supernatural tale of possession and past lives.