about the filmmaker
Jan Egleson's trilogy of films starring Boston's working class residents in the late 70's and early 80's have been hailed as innovative pioneering works of Independent Filmmaking. Billy in the Lowlands, The Dark End of the Street and The Tender Age are portraits that capture the issues of the time but remain pressingly current.
Jan Egleson began writing and directing in 1980, and was at the forefront of the development of the independent film movement. His credits are wide ranging, with numerous films completed for the PBS series American Playhouse. These include his early award-winning trilogy of films about working-class adolescents in Boston : Billy in the Lowlands, The Dark End of the Street and The Tender Age, which starred John Savage and Kevin Bacon as well as young men and women from the projects of Boston; Roanoak, a critically acclaimed mini-series which was one of the first dramas about Native Americans to use the Ojibwa language; Lemon Sky, an adaptation of Lanford Wilson's play starring Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, which was awarded the Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and Big Time. He then directed the acclaimed feature A Shock to the System starring Michael Caine. His other credits include television pilots and movies for ABC, CBS and Fox Networks: among them Gang of Four, Against The Law, The Last Hit, Justice in a Small Town and Coyote Waits. With producer and co-writer Natatcha Estébanez, he directed the Alma Award winning bi-lingual feature The Blue Diner.
He is currently an Associate Professor of the Practice and head of the graduate Cinema & Media Production Program at Boston University. In addition he is the author of three books; ZERO, a Graphic Memoir, and MWD, a graphic novel, and, a MANUAL ON DIRECTING.
Jan is currently an Associate Professor of the Practice at the Boston University School of Film and Television, where he runs the Graduate Program in Cinema and Media Production.