Directing

Jan Krawitz

Jan Krawitz has been independently producing documentary films for 35 years. Her work has been exhibited at film festivals in the United States and abroad, including Sundance, the New York Film Festival, Visions du Réel, Edinburgh, SilverDocs, London, Sydney, Full Frame, South by Southwest and the Flaherty Film Seminar. She has recently completed Perfect Strangers, a documentary that follows one w…

Known For

Styx

MovieDocumentary

A very unusual exploration of the Philadelphia subway and its riders, which creatively utilizes black and white photography.

Perfect Strangers

Perfect Strangers · 2013

Perfect Strangers

MovieDocumentary

What lies beyond the art of giving and receiving? Ellie, a liberal Democrat and kind-hearted masseuse, decides she wants to share the gift of life with a stranger. Five hundred miles away, Kathy loses hope of receiving a transplant until she hears from Ellie. Over the course of four years, both women face unexpected challenges.

Drive-in Blues

Drive-in Blues · 1987

MovieDocumentary

Old-time theater owners reminisce about the heyday of the drive-in and confront the reality of a dying business. Laced with unusual archival trailers, the tone of the film swings between camp and nostalgia.

Faerie Tales

Faerie Tales · 1992

MovieDocumentary

A documentary on the group The Radical Faeries.

Esto, que llevo dentro

Esto, que llevo dentro · 2021

Esto, que llevo dentro

In a letter to an artist lost to suicide at age twenty-eight, a filmmaker revisits his own battle with a rare anxiety disorder, forging an intimate relationship with his mother.

Nice Girls Don't Ask

Nice Girls Don't Ask · 2025

Nice Girls Don't Ask

MovieDocumentary

In the 1950s, thousands of “social guidance” films were shown to shape behavior according to traditional gender norms. “Nice Girls Don’t Ask” excavates footage from vintage educational films to cast a subversive but humorous lens on the proffered rules and expectations. What was the cost of this behavioral straitjacket for a generation of women? Is the pendulum creeping back?

Filmography

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Styx

MovieDocumentary

A very unusual exploration of the Philadelphia subway and its riders, which creatively utilizes black and white photography.

Director

Perfect Strangers

Perfect Strangers · 2013

Perfect Strangers

MovieDocumentary

What lies beyond the art of giving and receiving? Ellie, a liberal Democrat and kind-hearted masseuse, decides she wants to share the gift of life with a stranger. Five hundred miles away, Kathy loses hope of receiving a transplant until she hears from Ellie. Over the course of four years, both women face unexpected challenges.

Director

Drive-in Blues

Drive-in Blues · 1987

MovieDocumentary

Old-time theater owners reminisce about the heyday of the drive-in and confront the reality of a dying business. Laced with unusual archival trailers, the tone of the film swings between camp and nostalgia.

Director

Faerie Tales

Faerie Tales · 1992

MovieDocumentary

A documentary on the group The Radical Faeries.

Technical Advisor

Esto, que llevo dentro

Esto, que llevo dentro · 2021

Esto, que llevo dentro

In a letter to an artist lost to suicide at age twenty-eight, a filmmaker revisits his own battle with a rare anxiety disorder, forging an intimate relationship with his mother.

Thanks

Nice Girls Don't Ask

Nice Girls Don't Ask · 2025

Nice Girls Don't Ask

MovieDocumentary

In the 1950s, thousands of “social guidance” films were shown to shape behavior according to traditional gender norms. “Nice Girls Don’t Ask” excavates footage from vintage educational films to cast a subversive but humorous lens on the proffered rules and expectations. What was the cost of this behavioral straitjacket for a generation of women? Is the pendulum creeping back?

Director