JESSIE KERRY 兰馨
DIRECTOR | WRITER | PRODUCER | EDITOR
Nationality
Born
Residence
Expertise
Budget Experience
German
January 28, 1984 in Berlin
currently Germany (as of 2021)
Sci-Fi-, Action-, Fantasy Productions
Chinese Wuxia Productions
Motion-Controlled Stunt System Prods
Heavy-loaded VFX Productions
1st - 3rd Tier
High Budget
MINI-BIO
Jessie Kerry (J. Kerry) is an award-winning producer, director, writer and founder of the 2010 opened GenFilms Productions in Chengdu, China, which makes her the first and only German female filmmaker and entrepreneur to have successfully set up a theatrically licensed film production business in China. She's been involved in the domestic and international business sector between China and overseas since 2005 and served on various multilingual shorts, features and commercial productions as a screenwriter, director, talent manager and producer. Her cultural, creative and academic experience, and the expertise in the Chinese and international film industry, have brought her high resonance under international clients.
As a former professional actress, model, dancer, black belt martial artist and 2x Gold Medal World Champion in Okinawan Kobudo, Kerry brings unique background features into every motion picture film production. She trained Shaolin Kenpo Karate (Dragon Style), Jiu Jitsu, Tai Chi (Chen Style), Hatha Yoga and meditation since the age of 7, while also helping her parents run a local martial arts school where she was just 13 years old when she started giving classes to kids, teens and adults. In 2005, during her Martial arts studies in Beijing, she also visited and trained with the Shaolin Monks in their legendary monastery in Henan province.
Thanks to her martial arts background and her work on Chinese "Wuxia" (Chinese Fantasy Martial Arts) sets, Kerry is well-versed in directing heavy action and stunt scenes by utilizing wires and robotic motion-controlled stunt systems, making her the first and only German female filmmaker able to direct and produce Martial Arts-loaded Wuxia films to date.
Because of her creative work as a director, she also developed professional skills as a graphic designer, post-production editor, VFX connoisseur and photographer, making her an all-rounder in the business.
Her multilingual capabilities reach from English, German, French, Chinese, Spanish to Polish. She also holds a "Latinum" and a "Graecum" for her advanced Latin and Old-Greek language, history and philosophy studies, making her the only German female filmmaker to date being able to direct and produce authentic historical movies of that time.
As a certified screenwriter and E-Commerce manager, Kerry combines her creative vein with her over 15-years of entrepreneurial expertise in Marketing, E-Commerce and PR as well.
Kerry studied Chinese Wushu & Tai-Chi at the Beijing Capital University of Physical Education (CUPES), Chinese Literature and Language at Chengdu University (CU) and the Beijing International Studies University (BISU). She also joined 2 short-term study workshops at the Beijing Film Academy in Directing and Cinematography, as well as four years of the Producer's Workshop and Network during the International Cannes Film Festival.
In 2012, Kerry became one of the patrons of the annual International Teddy Award, the official queer award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
As a writer, she won as the only female, the only German, and the only non-Chinese participant the 2017 'Canada Golden Maple Film Award' for "Best Original Screenplay" with her Sci-Fi blockbuster script "Wang: The Dragon King". She received another 7 group-wins as a co-producer for "Best Film", "Best Director", "Best Script" with the Sino-foreign Co-Production "Kayla" and 3 more with "Frozen Brothers" for "Best Mobile Feature Film", making her company the only Chinese film production house to win such an award internationally. In total, Kerry has won over 25 awards as a director, writer and producer.
In 2019, Kerry made her debut as a German female Sci-Fi novelist with the first book of "The Chronicles of Qi" trilogy, also known as "Wang - The Dragon King" under her German publishing name, and has since then released additional booklets connected to the series. Her 50$ Million theatrical movie, based on the first book, has been in the making since 2017 and will be directed by famous Hollywood stunt-coordinator and director Andy Cheng, co-directed by Jessie Kerry, as the first female German director to direct an international high budget Sci-Fi blockbuster, starring Henry Ian Cusick (Lost, The 100, Mac Gyver, Inhumans, The Passage), Wesley Wong (Pacific Rim: Uprising, L.A. Rush), Tiger Hu Chen (Man of Tai Chi, Kung Fu Traveler, Triple Threat), Francois Goeske (French for Beginners, Treasure Island), Brandon Soo Hoo (Ender's Game, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) and many other well-known international stars. Since Covid-19 the production was pushed into "Turnaround". The script is announced to be rewritten and will be based on the "Wang" novel series..
In 2021, Kerry's 2013-SciFi-Short "Whisper (Between The Shades)" has been conceptually revamped to become the first internationally produced German high-budget "historical" Sci-Fi movie directed by a female German director.
Kerry's autobiography will launch in late 2022 under the German title "Laowai - Die Ausländerin: 1984-2022" (engl.: Laowai - The Foreigner: 1984-2022). It has gained significant traction since its official announcement and is considered to be produced in the near future as an Online TV series.
ENTERTAINMENT Experience
1990 - 2000
2002-2003
She started out on stage as an actress, dancer and singer since primary school and made her first steps as a writer and composer with school musicals during her high school time at the humanistic academic high school "Steglitzer Gymnasium". She was also the lead-singer of her own school band and plays the guitar, as well as drums. In her adulthood years in China, she taught herself to play the Chinese Hulusi.
After a high school internship at Berlin's renown Maxim Gorki and the Schiller Theater, she starred as the lead in Simona Furlani's dance theater play "The Legend of Paul and Paula" (dt. Die Legende vom Glück ohne Ende) at the People's Theater (Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg Platz). One year later she starred in the play "Amazonen.Mutationen" by Dr. phil. Ulf Otto at the Maxim Gorki Studio of the Maxim Gorki Theatre.
2004-2021
In 2004, she decided against a boring university transfer after senior year and instead dived right into her first job in the Entertainment industry, working for Berlin's renown Casting Agency "Wanted". During that time she learned more about the skills of a casting director, both in office and on set and was mainly engaged with domestic German TV Shows and foreign Hollywood productions at the Babelsberg Studios and on-location in downtown Berlin.
While working as a casting assistant, she also began her screenwriting studies after work, which she successfully finished in 2006 as a certified screenwriter for film and TV.
From Casting, she switched to Radio and became an editor at Berlin's only Black Music Radio Station "JAM FM". There, she made her first serious steps into editing news, teasers, trailers, games, conducting interviews and producing the "Young Culture Show" for one of Berlin's most famous Diskjockeys "DJ Groove".
In 2007, she returned once more to JAM FM but this time as an entrepreneur with her second company "M.S.S. Music-Stage-Shows" and as the talent manager of the formerly well-known R'n'B and Soul band "Souluv" which was hired to create the latest Jam FM radio station jingle.
In 2010, after a life-changing and inspiring time on the set of Roland Emmerich's "Anonymous", she decided to found her 3rd company, "GenFilms Productions" in Chengdu, China. Since then, she has become the first and only female German filmmaker and entrepreneur to own a theatrically licensed film production business in China which specializes among commercial productions and film-financing services also in independent art-house and mainstream feature film productions in the domestic and the sino-foreign co-production sector.
In 2013, she was shortly back to Germany for producing and directing two of her own no-budget projects. The first was the documentary "Then and Now" (Damals und Heute) for famous German Schlager-Star legend Stefanie Simon, and the second for her Sci-Fi Blockbuster Concept-Short, known as "Whisper (Shades of Time)", starring, among other well-known German actors and actresses, the Rapper "Sero" (Stefan Hergli). The project has been revamped in 2021 and is now in the early stages of development to become her second high budget blockbuster.
In 2014, she was the first foreign female director to specifically being asked by WAV Music and MTV China to direct, edit and also co-produce two "out-of-the-box" Music Videos. One was for Voice of China Star "Wu Jia Li" (also known as Cherie), which broke the 2-Billion views marker, and the other one for Malaysian Pop-Star and actress "Giselle Chia" with 1.5-Billion views.
In 2015, she stepped back as CEO of her own company group to focus more on the career as a writer and director by preparing her own Original productions for the next 5 years and also dive into the "Wuxia" genre of China, assisting the Chinese lead directors as their creative Co-Director for specific episodes that needed a certain fantasy angle. There, on set of the legendary Hengdian Film Studios, she also made her first experiences to work with the latest state-of-the art robotic motion controlled stunt systems and became more familiar in creatively directing wire scenes.
In 2017, her first Sci-Fi Blockbuster movie script "Qi: Spacetime Warriors" (working title) won at the Canada Golden Maple Film Festival before the $50 Million movie was even commencing with pre-production. She was the only non-Chinese screenwriter to receive the award in the category "Best Original Screenplay" and the only Sci-Fi screenwriter.
In 2018, "Qi: Spacetime Warriors" (working title) was then officially announced with an attached Hollywood Cast in various Sci-Fi and action online-news outlets in China and abroad.
In 2019, her first Sci-Fi novel "The Chronicles of Qi" was released, based on her original novel "Wang - The Dragon King", authored under her German publishing name.
Between 2018 and 2020, principal photography of 7 GenFilms Original productions, produced and directed by Jessie Kerry as the first female German filmmaker in China to do so, started. They premiered in 2020 and 2021 and are currently going through Chinese censorship for an international market release and to look for distribution. The movies are considered 1st - 2nd tier budget movies that range from $1M to 10$M.
Since 2021, she is back to Germany and currently works as a director, writer and producer on the German and the international Entertainment market to influence the European movie landscape with her overseas expertise and know-how in the Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Action genre.
BEST FILM
BEST DIRECTOR
BEST SCRIPT
PORTFOLIO
An overview into some hand-picked directing footage from past works in Germany and China.
JESSIE KERRY'S "DIRECTOR's TRADEMARKS" (2011-2021)
Powerful Heroines, Reflective Leads
Epic Misty Landscapes, Signature Colorama
Framed from behind
Jessie Kerry Originals (Reel 2021)
JESSIE KERRY'S CREATIVE CO-DIRECTED CHINESE TV SHOW EPISODES (2016-2021)
Chinese Wuxia Genre Shows
Historical Scenes, Wire Scenes, VFX Scenes
Robotic Motion-Control
JESSIE KERRY'S "NO SIR" MV (2014)
Featured on MTV China
Featured on 10 famous Chinese and Malaysian platforms
2Billion views all over the internet
WAV Music MV - Behind The Scenes Interviews - snippet
A short resumé of the music producers about working together with director Jessie Kerry.
MTV China Interview feat. Wu Jia Li
The former Voice of China star talks about her experience with Jessie Kerry as her director.
WAV Music MV - Behind The Scenes Interviews - full version
The Music producers and the director and producer Jessie Kerry talk more about the story behind the MV (incl. set footage).
JESSIE KERRY'S "QI: SPACETIME WARRIORS" THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM (ANNOUNCED)
$50 Million High Budget Production
Famous Hollywood, German and Russian Cast (attached)
Awarded for Best Original Screenplay
In 2016, director and producer Jessie Kerry began with the development of her first high budget Sci-Fi production between the US and China.
Her original screenplay won at the 2017 Canada Golden Maple Film Awards with Jessie Kerry being the only non-Chinese writer to receive this award and the only female Science Fiction writer.
Pre-Production commenced in 2018 with the announcement of the project, directors and attached cast in Chinese and American Online News.
In 2020, due to the pandemic, Pre-Production was put on hold and is since then in a Turnaround phase.
In 2021, the production changed its title into Wang: The Dragon King and a first official mood reel was released.
Wang: The Dragon King (Mood Reel)
JESSIE KERRY'S "WHISPER" THEATRICAL FEATURE FILM (ANNOUNCED)
€20 Million German Production
Well-known German Film and TV Cast (attached)
First German Sci-Fi theatrical feature directed by a woman