Jen Heck is an American writer, director, and producer best known for her award-winning films. Her career as a filmmaker started in music; in the late 1990s, while still in college in New York City, she worked as a photojournalist with artists including Alanis, Foo Fighters, Prince, the Beastie Boys, Luscious Jackson, Ani DiFranco, New Found Glory, Fat Joe, and others. By 2003 she had shifted to television, working as a producer for VH1, and later as a shooter and director for several MTV documentary series.

During this time Jen also began developing her own work, and in 1999 she and several partners (including Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio) co-founded Charged Productions, a Brooklyn-based animation studio that_x0019_s still operational today.

Her most recent film, The Promised Band, is a love story of sorts about of a group of young women in Israel and Palestine who, despite their dubious musical skills and opposite backgrounds, start a band as a cover story to hide the friendships they_x0019_re determ