By Emma Mead
ABOUT JESSIE
Jessie Barr is a Writer-Director and Sundance fellow with a background in acting, independent film, and theater. Born in DC, raised by NYC, and currently living in LA, her naturalistic approach to storytelling is intimate and deeply humanistic.
Jessie’s critically acclaimed, award-winning feature debut, "Sophie Jones" premiered in competition at the 2020 Deauville Film Festival and was released by Oscilloscope Laboratories in 2021. The film holds a 100% rating on RottenTomatoes and is streaming on Showtime. Jessie won Best Director at the 2022 Lost Weekend Film Festival (Alamo Drafthouse, Winchester). The film won Best Feature Film (NEXT) at the Americana Film Festival 2022 (Barcelona, Spain).
Variety hailed the film as a “fully realized portrait of grief that’s universal in its texture.” “Superb,” says Roger Ebert. The Playlist called it, “Coming-of-age at its best. A quiet, brilliant film.”
Jessie was a 2021 Sundance Episodic Lab fellow. The series she co-created went on to be developed with Warner Brothers Television and Tall Baby Productions. She’s shadowed numerous TV directors including Leslye Headland, Stuart McDonald, and her first mentor, the late Lynn Shelton.
Jessie’s short, "Too Long at the Fair" (2018), premiered on Short of the Week and won NoBudge’s Short Film of the Year. Her original series, "Om City" (2015), premiered at Tribeca, was a New York Times TV Critic’s pick, Vimeo Staff Pick, voted Best Web Series by Decider, and “Web to Watch” by USA Today.
Jessie is currently attached to direct IRIS written by Academy-award nominee Zach Baylin and is developing a number of new projects as a writer-director for both film and TV.
