Jordan K. Ellis

Jordan Kristopher Ellis was born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His passion for cinema began at a young age, enthralled with movies such as The Wizard of Oz (1939), Fantasia (1940), Star Wars (1977), and My Neighbor Totoro (1988). By age 10, after his parents' separation, he and his mother Rhonda Goodson Ellis moved out to the Southwest. Growing up in Scottsdale, Arizona, he was captivated by the scenery and landscapes at Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. He also developed a love and talent for art. After living in Arizona for 4 years, he moved back to the East Coast, now settling in Richmond, Virginia. A rocky start at first, he realized how much the area spoke to him with its new melting pot and individual blends of culture that started to reshape the city at a crucial time. His immense love for movies only matured, being exposed to the works of Ingmar Bergman, Andrei Tarkovsky, Martin Scorsese, Jan Svankmajer, Akira Kurosawa, and Hayao Miyazaki as well as many foreign-language films. This became a new revelation to him, understanding that film itself can be something more than just mainstream.

After graduating high school in 2008, he attended J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College, hoping to apply to VCUarts in studying film. Tragedy struck when his mother died of cancer in 2010. He decided to be closer to his father's family for support and moved down to North Carolina; transferring all his credits from community college to aim his education solely to filmmaking at The Art Institute of Charlotte. He earned his bachelor's degree in filmmaking and photography in 2013. He has been working on various short films and hopes to work on more prominent productions in the future in order to make the movies he wants.