Jude Klassen is a Toronto based author, screenwriter, director, singer/songwriter and actor known for her unique urban feature films that blend music, comedy, family and living in the end times. Inspired by her LGBTQ+ teenager to create her second feature, Stupid For You, Klassen co-stars, with her real-life offspring, as the washed-up 90s punk singer, Dani Destroyer whose lovesick teen needs to reunite their mom’s toxic band in order to win the heart of the art school It Girl. Klassen’s 1st feature, Love in the Sixth is also an indie musical inspired by her Toronto life in the Sixth Extinction.
Her short fiction has been published in the late great Canadian Forum (Uncle Piotr), it has been short-listed for the Writers Union of Canada competition (The Not-So-Secret, Secret Life of Angus McFee), and her collection, Toxic Shock and Other Family Gatherings was awarded a Canada Council literary grant. Western Alienation was shortlisted for both the Toronto Life Summer Fiction issue (the final one), and This Magazine’s Great Canadian Literary Hunt. Food-combining was published in The Vancouver Courier.
Stupid For You had its World Premiere at Image+ Nation Film Festival in Montreal: it was the Opening Night Gala film at the Kingston Reel Out Festival, it screened at Milwaukee’s Film Girl Film Festival, and had its Toronto debut at TIFF Bell Lightbox at the Inside Out Festival 2022. SFY had a Cineplex theatrical release in six Canadian cities in August 2022 and is distributed by Vortex Media in Canada and Frameline in the US. SFY is available on Apple TV and Super Channel in Canada (Vortex), and Frameline.org, Kanopy and Amazon Prime Video in the US (Frameline).
Outside of Canada & the US you can watch SFY on: Stash TV on YouTube, The Roku Channel, Revry, InDemand, Future Today, YO Adreanne!, Hoopla, Tubi, Popsy on Plex, Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video (Distributor: Tiny Cabin Pictures).
Klassen’s debut feature film, Love in the Sixth, had its world premiere at the Whistler Film Festival (2015) and its U.S. premiere at Chicago International Movies and Music Festival (2016). Love in the Sixth is available on Tubi, Plex, Gumroad, Vimeo, and on Amazon Prime in Canada, the U.K. and the U.S. and is still enjoying new reviews and chalking up the fresh tomatoes! (Distributor: Zellco Entertainment)
In 2007 Klassen wrote the BRAVO short, Do Not Bend, starring Anna Silk, and has written for Canuck comedians including Leslie Nielsen and Jessica Holmes. Klassen has directed musical comedy videos, which have over 250k views on YouTube, and has written extensively for TV, radio, and print. Klassen was a director participant at the 2018 Whistler Film Festival in the Story and Leadership Intensive, Women in the Director’s Chair. She has several TV projects in development ranging from thrillers to comedies. Klassen is a member of the WGC and SOCAN and is repped by The Jennifer Hollyer Agency.
Jude Klassen 