Gavin Heffernan (born April 2, 1980, in Oakville, Ontario) is an AFI grad and Canadian filmmaker/screenwriter, repped by the Agency for the Performing Arts and Zero Gravity Management in Los Angeles. Co-writer and co-executive producer of Bryan Singer's horror feature The Taking of Deborah Logan (2014), distributed by Millennium Entertainment. Also known for award-winning experimental timelapse films, his microbudget feature Expiration, and other posts as a producer/writer in the horror genre (Chillerama, Stephen King's One For the Road).Heffernan is an accomplished timelapse artist, featured in National Geographic, CBS News, Los Angeles Times, WIRED, Scientific American, and many more. His "Death Valley Dreamlapse" astrophotography short went viral in January 2013, partially attributed to a heavily debated "UFO" captured in the footage [1]. The town of Borrego Springs, California named their annual festival after Gavin's "Borrego Stardance" astro timelapse (highlighting the town's status as California's first International Dark-Sky Community by the International Dark-Sky Association). Heffernan was honored at the 2014 parade and October 25 was named "Gavin Heffernan Day" in San Diego County Heffernan discusses his success with the evolving timelapse artform in this May 2014 interview [2] with Astronomy Magazine.An alumnus of McGill University and the American Film Institute.While attending McGill, he wrote, directed, and acted in two feature films,The Steaks (2000) and Expiration (2004), both filmed primarily in Montreal, Quebec. Expiration received a 78% average ranking on Rotten Tomatoes and was awarded the Grand Jury Prize in Toronto at the 2004 Canadian Filmmakers' Festival. Though budgeted at a meagre $10,000, Expiration benefited from a strong internet presence, fueled by acclaim from publications Variety, Ain't it Cool News and Film Festival Today. Would later be referred to by The Film Journal as "the first major work of the student digital New Wave."After graduating from AFI in 2007, Heffernan co-founded "The Film Summit" an event dedicated to the examination and preservation of film relations between Hollywood and Canada, featuring works from Canadian Film Centre and the American Film Institute, presented at the University of Toronto campus.Premiering at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival, his unconventional anti-war documentary Grand Wheel (2008) played more than fifty film festivals in twenty countries worldwide. Won Silver Bear at the 37th Festival of Nations in Austria, Best Cinematography at the 2008 Canadian Filmmakers' Festival, and Best Experimental Film at the 2009 Oxford Film Festival.Heffernan is also the founder of the independent production company, Sunchaser Pictures.
Designed / directed concert screen content for The Rolling Stones on their 2015 ZIP CODE Stadium Tour and for selected songs in their 2016 DESERT TRIP performances.
2
October 25th was named "Gavin Heffernan Day" in San Diego County by Senator Joel Anderson in 2014 after Heffernan's viral timelapse video of Borrego Springs, California gave a big boost to tourism and awareness of the area.
3
His "Death Valley Dreamlapse" astrophotography timelapse went viral in January 2013, partially attributed to a heavily-debated "UFO" captured in the footage.
$950,000
