Jen McGowan’s first feature film, Kelly & Cal, starring Juliette Lewis, Cybill Shepherd and Jonny Weston premiered at SXSW where she won the Gamechanger Award. It was released theatrically by IFC Films, opening to rave reviews, including the NY Times, Variety, EW, The Wrap, Hollywood Reporter. McGowan’s previous films include the short “Touch”, which won a third of the more than 75 festivals where it played, including winning the Oscar-qualifying Florida Film Festival, and was distributed by PBS, NBC Universal and Canal Plus. McGowan’s MFA-thesis short “Confessions Of A Late Bloomer” began its festival run at Tribeca and Cannes, where it was selected for a special screening in the Palais by film critic Michel Coulombe. “Late Bloomer” screened at over 60 festivals worldwide and was distributed by Shorts International. McGowan’s commercial work includes co-writing and directing the award-winning commercial “Couch Therapy” for client Viesso. McGowan studied directing in the MFA program at USC and acting in the BFA program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, studying under David Mamet, Bill Macy & Sam Shepard at the Atlantic Theater. McGowan is an active member of The Alliance of Women Directors and Film Fatales. She was a finalist for the Clint Eastwood Filmmakers Award and is a Film Independent Fellow.