From the time he was eleven years old, Dean has been making his own films in 8-millimeter format, and he counts Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrik as some of his greatest cinematic influences. While a student at NYU film school, Dean made six short films. 'Jigsaw Venus,' is his first independent film, and he says the idea came to him quite naturally. "I've always loved drawing, and one night, while sketching, I saw this image of a woman putting the pieces of a puzzle together. That's basically how the idea for 'Jigsaw' came to life." Dean's film has no dialogue, which was a very deliberate decision on his part. "I've watched many foreign films since I was a kid. Of course, I didn't understand the languages, but I understood the feelings that the characters were conveying. Films are universal by nature, they convey various feelings that are common to everyone. So, I wanted to make a film that could be understood by anyone anywhere, solely based on the music and the imagery. And I think I also managed to create a film whose heart is also distinctly American." After graduating from NYU film school, Dean worked in the Public Relations departments at Miramax and Vanity Fair. But when he decided he was going to make 'Jigsaw Venus,' he left the PR industry and started working odd hours in the data processing division of an investment bank which helped him raise the necessary funds for his production. "You just don't have the time to make your own projects when you work for a major studio or company. Sure, I worked in the PR department at Miramax, which was a good experience for me, but the people I met through that work saw me exclusively as a PR person, not a filmmaker. " Determined to be a solely a filmmaker, Dean left the business side of the film world, and embarked on his own. The benefits of working at the investment bank were twofold: it helped him pay for his trip to Japan. "And they let me use their copier a lot, too," he laughs.