"A committed, creative, resourceful and determined creative practitioner"
Patrick McGrady, Creative Director, Wavelength Films / Associate Lecturer at UAL
Jess Gell is a Documentary Filmmaker, Artist and Researcher based in London. Her personal work is influenced by the processing of memory and how this shapes identity. She takes inspiration from the strange serendipities of everyday life and how these moments form the basis of our existence. Her documentaries have focused on rambunctious artists to unearthing personal history.
Jess's Researcher/Assistant Producer credits include award-winning and BAFTA-recognised feature documentary Hostile (Galeforce Films 2022), uncovering the 'hostile environment' for migrant communities. Described by Jon Snow (Channel 4) as "an important and revealing film about UK society 21st century". She has also worked with Raw TV, Foxtrot Films, MullenLowe and Heroes Films.
She is a freelance Director and Editor, including for community-led projects and has worked in collaboration with mental health and arts charities. With clients including War Child (for Art on a Postcard), Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM), Status Employment and Apsara Arts. Her most recent directing commission, The Power of Words, described by the National Lottery Awards for All charity as "greatly successful", focuses on how our relationship with words shapes the way we perceive ourselves and the world around us.
She is an alumna of the Grierson DocLab 2020 programme, selected for mentorships with Emmy-winning Producer Maureen Murray (Foxtrot Films) and BAFTA-winning Producer Gillian Moseley (MediaLab).
Jess received a First-Class Honours in Film and Television at University of the Arts London in 2017. Her short documentary about the life of RA Painter Jean Cooke, Jean Cooke: Delight In the Thing Seen, was nominated for the CPIFF Croydon Rising Star Award.