Jen Loren

Jennifer Loren is an award-winning filmmaker and senior director of Cherokee Film. Recently launched, Cherokee Film seeks to reclaim Cherokee and Native narratives by increasing representation across film and media while creating an ecosystem that supports production and drives economic activity in the Cherokee Nation.

With a background in broadcast television and investigative journalism, Jennifer began working for her tribe in 2014. She co-created, produces and hosts the Emmy-award winning docuseries “Osiyo, Voices of the Cherokee People,” which is now in production on Season 9.

In 2019, Jennifer helped the Cherokee Nation create and roll out the first certified Native American film commission in the United States, the Cherokee Nation Film Office (CNFO).

In 2020, Jennifer oversaw the buildout of a state-of-the-art 27-thousand square foot virtual production soundstage in the Cherokee Nation. With the stage’s XR technology, the Cherokee Nation became the first tribe to create Native content in the metaverse, and last year, CNFO (now the Cherokee Film Commission) accomplished yet another feat by offering the first-ever tribal film incentive program for hiring Native Americans and filming in the Cherokee Nation.

This year, Jennifer was selected to participate in the Obama Leaders USA Program, a program that seeks to inspire, empower, and connect emerging leaders across the country who are working to accelerate positive change in their communities. She has been named Oklahoma Film ICON, Woman of the Year by Tulsa YWCA and the Tulsa Mayor's Office; Woman of the Year by The Journal Record; as well as a Great Plains Distinguished Lecturer by Tulsa Press Club. In the past ten years, she has earned 23 Heartland Regional Emmy Awards for her work in journalism and film. She is a wife and mother to four girls. She serves on the Board of the Booker T Washington High School Foundation for Excellence and is acting chairwoman of the Oklahoma Motion Picture Alliance.

Sub-specialties:

Indigenous representation in media
Documentary filmmaking
Cherokee culture
Cherokee history
Inclusion in media