Jenny Stein

Jenny Stein shoots, directs, edits and scores the films she co-creates with her producing partner James LaVeck. In 2000, they founded Tribe of Heart, an Ithaca, New York-based non-profit production company inspired by the idea that "one person's change of heart can change the world." Stein is a graduate of Cornell University and holds a Masters Degree from UCLA's Independent Film and Television Producers Program, but she credits her musical training and her alternative school education as a child with influencing how and why she chooses to express herself through documentary filmmaking. Tribe of Heart films directed by Stein have appeared in 77 festivals around the world, where they have won 18 awards, including 4 for Best of Festival and 13 for Best Documentary. Her work with LaVeck has appeared on PBS, LinkTV and FreeSpeech TV. Stein's first film, The Witness (2000), was nominated for the Pare Lorentz award by the International Documentary Association and received CineWomen New York's Outstanding Breakthrough Documentary Award. Telling the story of a construction contractor from a violent Brooklyn neighborhood whose life is transformed by the unexpected love of a kitten, The Witness was described by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Howard Rosenberg as "One man's truth that cries out for mass exposure... may be the most important and persuasive film about animals ever made." (Los Angeles Times). Stein's and LaVeck's films are recognized beyond the independent film community for their contribution to the public's understanding of the ethics of the human-animal relationship. Their work has been endorsed by Dr. Jane Goodall, The United Federation of Teachers, and the California Teachers Association. They received a Distinguished Guardian Award from In Defense of Animals, the Outstanding National Activist Award from the Culture and Animals Foundation, and the Search for Excellence Award from the Latham Foundation for the Promotion of Humane Education.