Born and raised in Philadelphia, WRITER/DIRECTOR, Keir Politz completed an MFA at Columbia University where he was a recipient of the John and Jane Smith Fellowship for excellence in screenwriting and one of five film department fellowships. Ciné-Bulles (Volume 26, Number 3), a French-language film magazine published by the association of Quebec independent theatre operators, described Keir’s short film, A PIECE OF AMERICA, as “un bijou d’humanité [a jewel of humanity].” It won the IFP Audience Choice award at the 2007 Columbia University Film Festival and was selected as one of only four U.S. films to be screened at the prestigious 2008 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France. It was also an official selection of the L.A. Int’l Shorts, Regard Saguenay, ArtCourtVideo, and Extravagant India Film Festivals, was featured in the Culture Unplugged online film program, “We Speak, Here,” and was acquired for distribution by Ouat! Media in Toronto. Keir has had three screenplays under consideration for the Sundance Institute Lab including DETONATOR and APRETÓN. He is currently a member of Temple University’s adjunct faculty where he teaches screenwriting and has taught at Drexel University and the University of the Arts. Keir will also serve as artistic director of the 2011 Greenfield Youth Film Festival.