Educated at Boston University's College of Communication, Kijak has been directing fiction and non-fiction films for over 25 years. His credits include the critically acclaimed BAFTA-nominated feature doc SCOTT WALKER - 30 CENTURY MAN (executive produced by David Bowie - World Premiere Berlinale 2007), the celebrated cult documentary CINEMANIA, and the platinum-selling STONES IN EXILE, a documentary commissioned by The Rolling Stones, and produced by two-time Oscar-winning producer John Battsek/Passion Pictures which premiered as a Special Screening in the 2010 Directors Fortnight in Cannes. In 2012, he teamed with Passion Pictures again and Rob Trujillo from Metallica (making his debut as a film producer) on a feature doc about the late, great legend of the electric bass, Jaco Pastorius.
January 2015 saw the release of a feature documentary Stephen directed for PULSE Films about the biggest-selling boy band of all time, called BACKSTREET BOYS: SHOW 'EM WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF. The film broke iTunes pre-sale records and was a massive fan-favorite the world over.
Kijak's other collaborations with Passion Pictures include WE ARE X, a documentary about the rock band X Japan, the most successful band in Japanese history making a play for American success with a show at Madison Square Garden. That film had its world premiere in the World Documentary Competition of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival where it was awarded a Special Jury Award for Editing.
That was followed by IF I LEAVE HERE TOMORROW: A FILM ABOUT LYNYRD SKYNYRD which premiered at SXSW 2018 and won the Music Movies Competition at the 42nd Cleveland International Film Festival prior to its debut on Showtime. SID & JUDY, another Passion Pictures production tells the intimate story of Judy Garland's relationship with her 3rd husband Sid Luft and debuted on Showtime in October 2019.
He acted as show-runner and director of a 4-part documentary series called EQUAL which tells the stories of the LGBTQ rights movement in the years leading up to the 1969 Stonewall Uprising that debuted in October 2020 on HBO Max.
His return to narrative filmmaking, SHOPLIFTERS OF THE WORLD, based entirely on the music of The Smiths, was released March 26, 2021. His latest documentary, ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED (HBO Documentary Films/NBC-Universal) premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival and was released to great acclaim. The film's composer, Oscar-nominated and 5-time Emmy Award winner Laura Karpman, was nominated for an Emmy for the film's score.
Stephen is a proud member of the Documentary Branch of the Acadamy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), the British Acadamy of Film & TV Arts (BAFTA) as well as the Directors Guild of America (DGA).
SELECTED INTERVIEWS
ROCK HUDSON: ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWED
THE GUARDIAN
SHOPLIFTERS OF THE WORLD
SCRIPTMAG
EQUAL
THE QUEER REVIEW
SID & JUDY
QUEERTY
WE ARE X
SCREEN ANARCHY
SCOTT WALKER: 30 CENTURY MAN
INDIE WIRE
CINEMANIA
NPR
