About

Jennifer Crescenzo’s career as a writer, producer, and director of documentary media has spanned over a decade and has taken her everywhere from maximum security prisons, to major league dugouts, to the studios of legendary rock guitarists. She has interviewed household names including former NFL coach Tony Dungy, Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and artist Vernon Reid.  But she has also interviewed countless dedicated people who work behind the scenes to educate women and girls in Afghanistan, help victims of human trafficking, and teach dance to teenagers with Spina Bifida.  Her documentary films have been released theatrically, broadcast on television, and screened at film festivals around the world.  And, in between, has found time to teach yoga and practice martial arts!

As the Senior Producer at Video/Action in Washington D.C, Jennifer Crescenzo spent 8 years writing, producing and directing documentary media as a tool for people and organizations fighting for social justice.  She was awarded a Capitol Region Emmy Award in the category Public Affairs: Short Segment for producing and directing Extraordinary Response to International Terrorism, the story of how the people of Lockerbie, Scotland reached out to the hundreds of families who lost loved ones when terrorists blew up Pan Am Flight 103 in the skies over their sleepy, market town. Jennifer was also selected to accompany U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Julia Ormond to Thailand and Cambodia to capture on film the work of U.N. officials, local government leaders, and human rights activists who are leading the fight against human trafficking.

Other award-winning work includes Kathleen’s Story, a young woman’s struggle with breast cancer; Louis Martin: Walking with Presidents, the story of a ground-breaking black journalist who used his gift for “getting the right story to the right people” to win the confidence of presidents and champion the rights of black Americans; and Through my Eyes, a look at the lasting impact of family and community violence through the eyes of children.

In 2006, Jennifer released her first documentary film, Ready to Play, a daughter’s story about how her baseball-loving father salvaged a run-down elementary school ball field in the heart of Washington D.C. and built a 25-year neighborhood old softball league that keeps a changing community together.  Ready to Play premiered on WETA in primetime in August of 2007 and continues to be broadcast.  Jennifer was also featured in The Washington Post, Sunday Source in an article about promising local filmmakers.

Since she had so much fun working on a film about her Italian immigrant family and how they took to baseball on the streets of NYC, she followed it up by co-producing The First Basket, a film about how immigrant Jews playing basketball on the streets of NYC helped to build the NBA and make basketball a global phenomenon.  The First Basket was released theatrically in the United States, Canada, and Israel and screened at national and international film festivals from California to Poland.

In the fall of 2006, Jennifer joined Cortina Productions, an award-winning multi-media production company whose clients include The Smithsonian, The Basketball Hall of Fame, and the Muhammad Ali Center.  While a staff producer at Cortina, Jennifer produced two High-Definition films about the Woodstock music festival for the Museum at Bethel Woods, a museum and performing arts center built on the site of the original Woodstock.  These include the MUSE award-winning, 5-screen, immersive Festival Experience and the 20-minute HD documentary, Woodstock: The Music.

As of April 2008, Ms. Crescenzo is a freelance writer/producer and the founder of Ready to Play Productions.  Her projects include large-scale, multi-screen immersive films that take you inside avalanches to learn about the laws of motion, into the womb to experience the journey from conception to birth, and inside A major league dugout to see the action from the player’s perspective.

When she is not behind the camera, Jennifer loves to be on her yoga mat.  She is a Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher so when she is not driving editors crazy with her attention to detail she is tweaking her students Down Dogs.  She also studies dance and martial arts and aspires to a black belt!

Jennifer is a Washington D.C. native and a proud D.C. public school graduate. She holds a BA in English from the University of Notre Dame.