JEFF UNAY
JEFF UNAY
Producer / Director / DP
Jeff Unay is a director, cinematographer and artist. His driving passion is telling immersive stories of ordinary people in extra/ordinary circumstances. Jeff’s independent directorial debut was the 2018 feature film The Cage Fighter. The film was released theatrically and streaming by IFC Films/Sundance Selects and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. The Independent magazine recognized Jeff as a 2017 Filmmaker To Watch. Jeff first cut his teeth helming the direct-to-fan feature documentary Free To Play. Co-shot and edited by Jeff, it was produced and distributed by Valve and received 5.5 million online views in its opening weekend release. Jeff also works as a cinematographer, most recently on the documentary film Satan and Adam (2019 Cargo Film).
Jeff grew up in a small town an hour outside of Baton Rouge, Louisiana where the only things to do were draw, play baseball and watch movies. Jeff’s early love of film led him to becoming a Visual Effects Society award-winning character designer and face sculptor working on major motion pictures including Avatar (2009) and King Kong (2005). He credits much of his success as an artist and filmmaker to his 20-year study of psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman’s work on facial expressions, emotion and deception. This research has influenced the way Jeff photographs the faces of his subjects to discover the emotional truths revealed. Jeff is a Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute and Points North Institute Fellow and a member of the Full Sail University Hall of Fame. Currently, Jeff lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children. When he’s not working on films, you’ll most likely find him on a baseball field coaching his son’s baseball team.
CONTACT:
jeffunay (at) gmail (dot) com
ARTICLES:
Talkhouse: What the Face Reveals: From ‘King Kong’ and ‘Avatar’ to ‘The Cage Fighter’
Moveablefest: Interview: Jeff Unay on Packing a Punch with ‘The Cage Fighter’
Los Angeles Times: Review: ‘The Cage Fighter’ A Hard-Hitting Doc About an Aging Family Man Still Drawn to MMA
The Advocate: Unay Teaches Lessons About Life, Filmmaking to East Feliciana Students
Full Sail University: Interview: Jeff Unay 2015 Full Sail University Hall of Fame Inductee