Jamie Babbit is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. She directed the films BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER, THE QUIET and ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE. She has also directed many episodes of television programs including GILMORE GIRLS, MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE, NIP/TUCK and THE L WORD. Babbit graduated from Columbia University in 1993. She made her first short, FROG CROSSING, with co-director Ari Gold in 1995, and it played at many festivals including Telluride, Sundance and Rotterdam. FROG CROSSING was also selected for the Sundance-in-Tokyo fest delegation and purchased by the Sundance Channel, where it is still in rotation. Babbit’s second short, SLEEPING BEAUTIES, premiered at Sundance in ’98 and played over 30 festivals including London, the LAIFF and Washington D.C., where Babbit was voted Best Director.
In 1999, Babbit directed her first feature film, BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER. Starring Natasha Lyonne and Clea DuVall, it is a romantic comedy about a high school cheerleader who is sent to a so-called “reparative therapy” camp when her parents suspect she is a lesbian. The film was inspired by an article that Babbit read about a man who had been sent to a similar camp. In 2000, the film won the Audience Award and the Graine de Cinéphage Award at the Creyeil International Women’s Film Festival, an annual French festival which showcases the work of female directors.
Her most recent feature film, ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE, starring Melonie Diaz as a young woman who gets involved with a feminist radical group, was nominated for a Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Babbit has been active in the Outfest community and served on the host committee for our most recent restoration, CHOOSING CHILDREN (1984), a film about lesbian parenting.
WRITINGS ABOUT JAMIE BABBIT
Interview with Babbit about ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE
RELATED RESOURCES
Archive Research & Study Center at UCLA – for more information on how to access the Outfest Legacy Project Collection and the UCLA Film & Television Archive
ITTY BITTY TITTY COMMITTEE Website – for more information on Jamie Babbit’s most recent feature