Jennifer Burton

Producer / Director

Jennifer is both a filmmaker and Professor of the Practice of Filmmaking at Tufts University. Her films include Origin of the Species (a feature documentary exploring how robots are already disrupting our ethical, cultural, and social lives, directed by Abigail Child); Kings, Queens, & In-Betweens (a feature documentary on gender, identity, and drag), The Happiest Day of His Life (a short film on cultural gender role reversal) and Manna From Heaven (a feature about finding hope later in life). She brought Manna From Heaven (shot with her sisters in their hometown of Buffalo, NY) to screen for the US Congress and it was chosen for the Toronto Film Festival’s Circuit Series.

While mentoring Tufts student filmmakers, she has produced the Half The History project, a series of short films on women in American history, and Old Guy, a comedic take on ageism in the media.

Her publications include Call and Response: Key Debates in African American Studies (W. W. Norton), co-edited with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and The Prize Plays and Other One-Acts: Zora Neale Hurston, Eulalie Spence, Marita Bonner, and Others (Macmillan/G.K. Hall).

Burton earned her Ph.D. from Harvard University in English and American Literature, writing her dissertation on hope in American literature and film.

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