Janell Shirtcliff | |
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Born | 1982 or 1983 (age 40–41)
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Occupations |
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Notable work | Habit |
Website |
janellshirtcliff |
Janell Shirtcliff (born 1982 or 1983) is an American filmmaker, photographer, and music video director. She also worked as a model for a decade and has done some acting for which she has been praised. She made her film directorial debut with 2021's Habit. Her photography has been featured in publications including Variety, [2] [3] Billboard, [4] Nylon, [5] [6] [7] and Teen Vogue. [8]
Shirtcliff has directed music videos for songs including The Band Perry's " The Good Life", [9] Bethany Cosentino's "It's Fine", [10] Tashaki Miyaki's "Anyone But You", [11] and Mayer Hawthorne's "Over". [12]
Shirtcliff first got into photography when she started shooting images for her online store Lonelydot, through which she sells vintage clothes. [1] She photographed Phoebe Bridgers for a cover story in Variety in 2021. [13] [2]
Shirtcliff made her feature directorial debut with the 2021 film Habit, which she also cowrote with her childhood best friend Libby Mintz. [14] The film is set in Los Angeles and stars Bella Thorne as a party girl from Corpus Christi and Paris Jackson as Jesus. [14] [15] The film was negatively received, accruing a 6% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 16 critics, [16] including The Guardian's Leslie Felperin who called the film a " John Waters wannabe". [17] The film also generated controversy, including a petition to block the film's release with nearly 300,000 signatures claiming that the film was Christianophobic because Jackson's Jesus was portrayed as a lesbian, though the film's promotional materials and logline did not indicate the claim was true. [15] A second petition started by One Million Moms gained over 70,000 signatures, calling the film " sacrilegious". [18] Gavin Rossdale, who plays a drug dealer named Eric in the film, praised Shirtcliff and said they built a great rapport with each other. [19]
Shirtcliff directed the documentary film Mother of the Dawn, about Vale do Amanhecer founder Tia Neiva. She first discovered Neiva from a photo while browsing online, and was inspired by the image. She pitched the idea of the documentary to producer Tommy Savas. [20] Mother of the Dawn premiered at the Rollins Theatre in Austin, Texas, as part of the 2022 South by Southwest festival's Documentary Shorts Competition. [20] [21]
Shirtcliff is set to direct another film called The Edge of Nowhere, also featuring Rossdale. [19]
Prior to her photography career, Shirtcliff worked as a model for ten years, posing for companies including Levi's and Urban Outfitters. [1]
Shirtcliff appeared as an actor in the music video for Katy Perry's 2013 single " Unconditionally", directed by Aya Tanimura. [22] She also acted in the film Dirty Old Town alongside Billy Leroy, [23] for which Variety's Andrew Barker said hers was the standout performance. [24]
Shirtcliff lives in Corpus Christi, Texas, having lived in the Texas Coastal Bend region since moving from California at age 12. [14] She has two children, one of whom is a son named Bowie. [1] [14] As of November 2014, Shirtcliff was engaged to Youngblood Hawke singer Sam Martin. [1]