| Jason Kliot | |
| Birth Place: | United States |
| Alma Mater: | Amherst College, Ecole Normale Supérieure |
| Occupation: | Film producer |
Jason Kliot (born 1963) is an American independent film producer based in New York.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Kliot emerged with the American indie wave of the 1990s, producing alongside his wife and business partner Joana Vicente. In 1995 Kliot and Vicente associate produced Todd Solondz's feature debut, Welcome to the Dollhouse, which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize.[6] Kliot and Vicente have since worked with directors such as Steven Soderbergh, Brian De Palma, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Jim Jarmusch, and Alex Gibney.
Kliot was also one of the founders of City Harvest, the first food redistribution organization in the United States. He now serves on the Board of City Harvest.
In 2010 Kliot was a jury member at the Sundance Film Festival.[7]
Kliot and Vicente are co-founders and presidents of Open City Films, a production company of feature films and documentaries with an acclaimed catalogue of films including Three Seasons, , Coffee and Cigarettes, Redacted, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Welcome to the Dollhouse and Awake. Throughout the years, their films have been nominated for 23 Independent Spirit Awards- four have won. , also garnered a nomination for Best Documentary Picture at the 78th Academy Awards in 2008. Their films have also been selected numerous times for the Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Toronto film festivals and have garnered four winning trophies at The Sundance Film Festival.
In 1998, Kliot and Vicente founded Blow Up Pictures, the first digital production company in the United States.[8] [9] Their first film, Chuck & Buck, was the first digital film produced and distributed in the US. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for five Independent Spirit Awards in 2001. Under the Blow Up banner, Jason and Joana also produced such films as Lovely and Amazing, and Love In the Time of Money.
In 2003, Kliot and Vicente co-founded HDNet Films with Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner. The company produced 18 films in five years, all shot on digital video. The HDNet Films production of Steven Soderbergh's Bubble was the first film ever to be released "day-and-date," in the United States, simultaneously opening across theatrical, cable and satellite television, and home video platforms. This innovative distribution strategy allowed consumers to choose how, when and where they wished to see a film.
Films produced under HDNet include Academy-Award nominated , and Redacted, which took the Silver Lion at the 2007 Venice Film Festival.