DER Filmmaker

J.P. Sniadecki

J.P. is a filmmaker and doctoral candidate in the Social Anthropology Department at Harvard University. In 2000, he began making films in his home state of Michigan, documenting his experience teaching in a prison education program.

For the past five years, his films has primarily focused on the social and environmental changes taking place in China today. His first film in China, Songhua (2007), has screened at numerous festivals, including the 2008 Vienna International Film Festival, the 2007 Shadow Festival, and the 2009 PDX Film Festival. It has also received the Jury's Pick award at the Negotiated View Film Festival, the 2008 Platforma Video Festival, and the Eyes & Lenses Ethnographic Film Festival.

His second film, Demolition (Chaiqian) (2008), won the Joris Ivens award in the International Competition of the 2009 Cinema du Reel in Paris and has screened at the 2008 Viennale, the 2008 Shadow Festival, the 2009 Buenos Aires Documentary Film Festival, the 2010 Punto de Vista Film Festival, and the 3rd Beijing Independent Film Festival.

He is currently working on several new films in China as well as collaborating with fellow anthropologist-filmmaker Verena Paravel on Foreign Parts, a portrait of a New York junkyard under the threat of eminent domain.

Films:
Demolition (Chaiqian)
Songhua

Related Links
Harvard Sensory Ethnography Lab