Jeff unay

ABOUT THE Artist

Jeff Unay is a director, cinematographer, and artist. His driving passion is telling immersive stories of ordinary people in extra/ordinary circumstances. Jeff’s independent directorial debut was the 2018 feature film The Cage Fighter. The film was released theatrically and streaming by IFC Films/Sundance Selects and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. The Independent magazine recognized Jeff as a 2017 Filmmaker To Watch. Jeff first cut his teeth helming the direct-to-fan feature documentary Free To Play. Co-shot and edited by Jeff, it was produced and distributed by Valve and received 5.5 million online views in its opening weekend release. Jeff also works as a cinematographer, having worked on the award-winning documentary film Satan and Adam (2019 Cargo Film). He has worked at Valve for the past 16 years, having worked on a wide variety of projects, including video games, commercials, and film.

Jeff’s early love of film led him to become a Visual Effects Society award-winning character designer and face sculptor working on major motion pictures, including Avatar (2009) and King Kong (2005). He credits much of his success as an artist and filmmaker to his 20+ year study of psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman’s work on facial expressions, emotion, and body language. This research has influenced the way Jeff photographs the faces of his subjects to discover the emotional truths revealed. Jeff is a Concordia Fellow, Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, and Points North Institute Fellow, and is a member of the Full Sail University Hall of Fame. Currently, Jeff lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children. In his spare time, you’ll most likely find Jeff on a baseball field coaching his sons and their baseball teams.

RMCAD + PUBLIC EVENTS

Artist TALK

From Facial Animation to Film Directing: A Career in Art

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

Mary Harris Auditorium
Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design
1600 Pierce Street, Denver, CO 80214

Jeff Unay takes you through his 25-year career as a digital artist, where he’s worked on blockbuster film franchises such as Avatar and King Kong as a Lead Facial Modeler, to eventually directing and producing award-winning character-driven documentary films. Jeff will share examples of his facial animation work and how he’s utilized his computer graphics background and knowledge of the human face to influence his cinematography work when framing his subjects in emotional moments in his films.

RMCAD Only Events

Character Creation Workshop

Wednesday, October 15, 2025
9:00 am - 11:00 am Mountain Time
Zoom and On-Campus

This event is full! Please join us at the Artist Talk and Student-Led Q&A!

Students have the exclusive opportunity to attend an interactive workshop with animator and filmmaker Jeff Unay! Students will learn about Jeff’s creative process, including points of inspiration and problem-solving techniques. Students will then create, share, and develop their own characters and story ideas. Students can bring existing projects or characters or create something totally new. 

STUDENT-LED Q+A SESSION

Wednesday, October 15, 2025
11:45 am - 12:45 pm Mountain Time
Student-Led Q&A Sessions are casual, in-person conversations open to RMCAD students, faculty, and staff. Guided by student voices, these discussions generate valuable professional advice for all students.

Film Screening and Q+A

FREE TO PLAY
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
1:45 pm - 3:45 pm MST
Join an exclusive, RMCAD-only film screening of the feature documentary FREE TO PLAY with visiting artist and director Jeff Unay. Jeff will be present for a Q+A after the screening.
Three professional video game players compete in the first million-dollar prize tournament in this captivating film, revealing how the pressure and passion for victory impact the players’ lives and relationships.
FREE TO PLAY was co-shot and edited by Jeff; it was produced and distributed by Valve and received 5.5 million online views in its opening weekend release.

Recommendation List

VASD Program visiting artists and designers provide a recommendation list that gives insight into their work, practice, and research. Artist Jeff Unay recommends:

• Emotions Revealed by Paul Ekman

• Strength Training Anatomy by Frédéric Delavier

• An Atlas of Animal Anatomy for Artists by W. Ellenberger (Author), H. Baum (Author), H. Dittrich (Author), Lewis S. Brown (Editor)

• Monstruo: The Art of Carlos Huante by Carlos Huante (Author), Scott Robertson (Editor)

• Wall and Piece by Banksy

• Hard Boiled by Geoff Darrow and Frank Miller

• William Eggleston’s Guide by John Szarkowski (Author), William Eggleston (Photographer)

• Forensic Facial Reconstruction by Caroline Wilkinson

• Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need by Blake Snyder

• Alex Webb: The Suffering of Light by Alex Webb (Photographer), Geoff Dyer (Contributor)