Actor / Director / Writer
Jody Jaress
Award winning actress award winning film director awarded jazz blues singer
DIRECTOR / WRITER / PRODUCER
Director / Writer of the JEXA AWARDS 2023 Gala Black-tie event at the Cicada Club, Los Angeles, CA.
Jody Jaress is an American actress, director, writer and jazz and blues singer. She has opened for artists that include Louis Armstrong, Harry Belafonte, Dinah Shore, and Janet Blair. She shared dual billing with multi-Grammy winner, Bili Redd Thedford. For her years of performing and contribution to the jazz and blues community, on April 30, 2015, Jaress was named as a "Jazz and Blues Living Legend" and Inducted into the foundation by the Duke Ellington Society of L.A., the Living Legend Foundation, JaZzabration. Jaress is the writer and Artistic Director of the 2023 JEXA Awards program.
​TRACES OF MEMORY was Jody's official debut as a Film Director, Screenwriter, and Producer.
This phycological short, won eleven director/producer/story awards out of 15 separate festivals.​
​"TRACES OF MEMORY" (the film)
Directed / Written by JODY JARESS
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"TRACES OF MEMORY" - Trailer
A psychological drama about a woman's fractured mind.
Her distorted mind can no longer differentiate between her reality… and the truth.
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Having committed the most heinous act, this once quiet, subservient wife and mother of three, finds herself stranded on a desert highway expecting to hitch a ride away from her past. She encounters a cunning roadside intruder who threatens her very existence by following her and badgering her with questions that evoke confusing and disturbing images igniting a cycle of torment. If she is to survive and be free, she must rid herself of this relentless intruder and the haunting memories.
Jack Donner (Actor/Writer/Director), approached Jody with his SO THIS IS LOVE story concept to create either a
web series or short film. After co-writing twenty episodes, they chose four stories which they produced into one
thirty minute short winning many festival accolades.
Co-Written by JODY JARESS
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"SO THIS IS LOVE" - Trailer
Passionately married for decades, Jack and Josey prepare for the most romantic evening of their lives, when their innocent conversation reveals brutal and devastating secrets.
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This particular day has great significance as they enjoy their tea. Josey calls their life-long friend Sally, to tell her what time to arrive. As Jack and Josey begin recalling events from their eccentric marriage, Sally becomes the subject of discussion, which then ignites some brutal and devastating secrets. Josey admits, “I can't do today with all this crap in me. In us!” Pain, anger, and bitterness escalate into ugly accusations from Jack as he proclaims, "I would have been rid of you and your mother!"
It's the end of the day. This very special day. And as planned...
Sally will arrive soon.
Jody partnered up with Roger Tulces, a Private Investigator, to co-write an Action/Fantasy feature film titled, RETURN OF THE SACRED presently in pre-production. They are now in the early stages of creating several sequels around the two main characters.
Return of The Sacred
A burnt-out detective pairs up with an old Indian Medicine Man to recover the tribe's Sacred Artifacts. They must endure the Indian's willful, Berkley educated granddaughter, while together eluding thugs, police, and the FBI.
Jody has ghost written on several other features, and credited as Script Consultant on Ulli Lommel's,
ABSOLUTE EVIL: FINAL EXIT starring David Carradine (one of his last films).
Layer by layer, the truth about Cooper alias Babyface is revealed. A complex web of murder, revenge, atonement and forgiveness unfolds, culminating in the ultimate question: What is the definition of absolute evil?
Jody is collaborating on a very tender UNTITLED short film, focusing on acceptance, perception, individual reality... and truth.
© 2020-2024 All Rights Reserved / jodyjaress.com / Created by Redlippedlady
© 2020-2024 All Rights Reserved / jodyjaress.com / Created by Redlippedlady