Director Christine Jeffs has signed with Xenon, the N.Y.-based house headed by exec producer/founder Doug Robbins, for exclusive U.S. spot representation. Jeffs was formerly repped in the ad arena by bicoastal Saville Productions. The director has been active in both feature films and commercials.
Jeffs has been active in feature films and commercials. On the former front, her credits include: American indie Sunshine Cleaning (2008), starring Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin, in which, to raise the tuition to send her son to private school, a thirty-something single mom starts an unusual business–a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up company; Sylvia (2003), a British motion picture starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Daniel Craig, which explored the relationship between poets Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes; and Rain (2002), a family drama about the collapse of a marriage and the dissolution of a mother-daughter relationship. Rain–Jeffs’ feature screenwriting and directing debut–was selected for its world premiere in the Directors Fortnight at the 2001 Cannes International Film Festival.
Currently Jeffs is in development on a romantic comedy, Wonderful Tonight, with Castle Rock Entertainment.
As for commercials, Jeffs’ currently airing work includes Kohl’s and North Shore LIJ Health System from DeVito Verdi. Other U.S. ad credits are Seasonique and the U.S. Census, among others. Internationally her spots span such clients as Baileys, Land Transport NZ, Bank of New Zealand, and the New Zealand Police. Jeffs’ commercial work has earned her a shelf full of awards including a Cannes Bronze Lion, New Zealand’s CAANZ creative excellence Axis Award for direction three years consecutively, and a number of Australian awards.
Jeffs began her career in New Zealand as an assistant editor on feature films and documentaries including Crush (1992) starring Marcia Gay Harden, Absent Without Leave (1992), Ruby and Rata (1990) and Send a Gorilla.
Jeffs wrote, directed and edited the short film Stroke (1994), which centers on a lone swimmer who gets revenge on a group of lane swimmers who disrupt her tranquility. Stroke was screened at festivals worldwide including Cannes and Sundance
When not behind the lens, Jeffs lives on a ranch in Auckland, N.Z., with her partner John Toon, cinematographer of Sunshine Cleaning and her other films.
Jeffs joins a Xenon creative directorial roster that includes Jamie Way, Ash Beck, Vico Sharabani, Three Volts and Stacy Toyama.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More