Jeff Crispi

Jeff and his younger sister Alyson were raised by their parents, Jack and Kathy, a History Teacher and an Art Buyer in the suburbs of Long Island, New York. At an early age, he excelled at athletics which developed into a brief stint as a semi-professional racquetball player. After the discouragement of almost failing an introductory film course at Binghamton University, he earned his Bachelor's degree in psychology. For several years he worked at various mental health facilities. Then, upon attending a Q & A screening of the aptly named "The Kid Stays In The Picture" (2002) his passion for cinema was rekindled. The evening's host was a location scout and helped Jeff secure his first role in Richard D'Angelo's "First Person"(2003). While taking various film courses and learning the craft, Jeff met professor, filmmaker and media artist Lise Swenson, a producer of "Strange Culture"(2007) who grew to be a trustworthy mentor. Jeff also founded Avalon Studios in 2003 which produces the Avalon Micro Film Festival Tour in addition to independent films. The AMFF Tour includes music and short films by international award-winning filmmakers and takes place in different U.S. cities each year. More recently, ground-breaking documentaries like "Man On A Wire" (2008) and "Capitalism: A Love Story" (2009) have lead Jeff into documentary filmmaking.