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Jessica Edwards uses her broad background in the film industry as a director, producer and publicist to create and support storytelling. In 2010, she launched Film First to produce documentary shorts and feature-length work. Since then, she’s directed and produced dozens of projects across all platforms. 

Her award-winning debut short Seltzer Works premiered at SxSW and was broadcast on the PBS series POV in 2010. Her other documentary shorts, including Tugs (2011), The Landfill (2012) and Slowerblack (2017), have screened at film festivals around the world including Sundance, SxSW, Hot Docs, Full Frame, IDFA and dozens of others. 

Edwards' debut feature-length documentary, Mavis!, about soul music legend Mavis Staples and her family group The Staple Singers, premiered on HBO in 2016 and was released in over a dozen countries worldwide. She was awarded a Peabody for distinguished achievement in documentary filmmaking in 2017.

Her current film Skate Dreams, about the rise of women’s skateboarding premiered at SxSW and has screened at festivals including DocNYC, Woodstock, Nantucket, Full Frame and others. It will be available to stream world-wide in 2023.

Edwards has also been active in new media through Film First’s VR content studio Scenic, where she has collaborated with outlets like the Wall Street Journal on 360 video documentaries for Samsung Gear, Google Daydream and other VR platforms.

In 2013, Edwards edited and published Tell Me Something: Documentary Filmmakers, which offered advice from filmmakers for all creative people. The book sold out its first printing. As an independent film publicist for over 10 years, Edwards worked with filmmakers like Sofia Coppola, David Lynch, the Coen Brothers, Gus Van Sant, David Cronenberg and many others. Jessica was named one of "10 Documakers To Watch" by Variety.

Edwards holds a MA in Media Studies from The New School in New York City and a BA in Cinema Studies from Montréal's Concordia University in her native Canada. She lives and works in the Hudson Valley, NY with her partner and daughter. .

Filmography

2022 - Skate Dreams (Director, Producer)
2021 - With Delight (Director)
2019 - Rams (Executive Producer)
2018 - Design Canada (Producer)
2017 - Slowerblack (Director, Producer)
2017 - The Fastest Ride (VR, Director)
2015 - Mavis! (Director)
2012 - The Landfill (Co-director)
2011 - Tugs (Director, Producer)
2010 - Seltzer Works (Director, Producer)