Jon Kauffman is an award-winning filmmaker and creative director based in New York City.

He received his MFA in screenwriting and film directing from Columbia University’s Graduate Film Program and received a BA (with Honors) from Occidental College in Los Angeles. In addition, Jon served as an apprentice and assistant to Darren Aronofsky for over two years and on such films as The Wrestler and Black Swan.

Jon's films have played at film festivals throughout the United States, including the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2016, his debut feature-film, Heartlock, was one of ten projects selected for IFP’s prestigious Narrative Lab. The film, which The Los Angeles Times called "lean, stylish and confidently crafted,” was released in 2019 in the US for both theatrical and digital audiences; it was also distributed internationally in select territories, including the UK and China.

Currently, Jon is at work on his second feature-film, as well as the one-hour dramatic TV series he created (to be Executive Produced by Ramin Bahrani), the pilot for which was a finalist for the Sundance Episodic Labs and a selection for IFP’s annual Project Forum.

Dedicated to unconventional narratives set in hole-and-corner worlds, Jon's quest for personal, authentic storytelling has led him from African diamond mines, to back-alley Hasidic butcheries, to Michigan state penitentiaries, to the inner-depths of the Everglades.

In addition, seeing AI-powered experiences like VR, AR, voice, and messaging as the next narrative frontier, Jon began creative consulting to media firms aspiring to develop bleeding-edge entertainment and interactive products that retain the humanity and depth necessary to sustain customer connection.

Jon’s formal training as a storyteller, along with his early evangelism of emerging interfaces, anchor his unique, evocative approach.