Jana Debus is a German-born visual artist working with experimental film and portrait-based moving image. Her work explores perception and presence through cinematic encounters that examine the relationship between image, subjectivity, and spectatorship.
Her films have been presented internationally at festivals and art institutions including Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid), International Film Festival Rotterdam, BFI London Film Festival, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, European Media Art Festival (Osnabrück), Kunstmuseum Bonn, Kunstmuseum Bochum, KW Institute for Contemporary Art Berlin, Kunstverein Düsseldorf, and Los Angeles Filmforum.
Debus studied at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln) and holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She was previously trained as a photographer in London.
Her work has received several awards and grants, including the Young Talent Award of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the VG Bild-Kunst Award (KunstfilmBiennale Köln/Bonn), the Young Film Art Germany Shortlist Prize at the Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, and a DAAD Scholarship.