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Jessica Beshir

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Jessica Beshir
Beshir in 2021
Born1988 (age 36–37)
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
Alma materUniversity of California, Los Angeles
OccupationFilm director
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (2024)

Jessica Beshir (born 1988) is a Mexican documentary filmmaker. After directing several documentary shorts, she made her feature film debut with Faya Dayi (2021) which she won several awards for.

Biography

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Jessica Beshir was born in 1988 in Mexico City,[1] the daughter of a Mexican mother and an Ethiopian father who was studying medicine in the country.[2] Due to the government calling for the repatriation of the diaspora following the Ethiopian Civil War, her father brought the family to Harar, Ethiopia, where Beshir grew up, and worked as a surgeon in the country.[2] When she was about sixteen,[3] the family fled Ethiopia and returned to Mexico when her father got a scholarship.[2] She obtained her BA in film studies and literature from the University of California, Los Angeles.[4] Jessica is based in Brooklyn, NY.

Her documentary short film He Who Dances on Wood (2016) is about a man, Fred Nelson, who practices tap dancing on a block of wood in a tunnel in Prospect Park, an urban park in Brooklyn.[5] In 2017, the film was awarded Best Documentary Short at the Edmonton International Film Festival and the Jury Award at the Anchorage International Film Festival.[4] Her documentary short Hairat (2017) is about Abba Yussuf, the "Hyena Man of Harar" who came to international attention through the documentary series Planet Earth II.[6] Hairat premiered at the Sundance Film Festival,[7] and it was shown at the 2018 Garden State Film Festival.[6]

In 2021, she made her feature film directorial debut with Faya Dayi.[8] She says "Me and the making of this film were one. It taught me about who I was. Nobody was interested in doing it [with me]. I realized I am the one who needs to do it, so I better learn how to use a camera, and I better learn how to produce. It was a call to develop myself, and in reconnecting with this land that I had left for a long time, I came to learn its history, and came to learn and listen to what the communities were talking about and to understand the struggles they were grappling with at the moment, especially politically."[9] The complexity of the human experience is explored and underrepresented perspectives are frequently highlighted in Jessica Beshir's work. She uses a lyrical visual language in her films to elicit strong emotional reactions from her viewers. Focusing on topics like migration, family, and cultural legacy, Beshir's documentaries offer a complex look at the lives of people who are frequently underrepresented in the media. She won an American Society of Cinematographers Documentary Award,[10] the Independent Spirit Awards Truer Than Fiction Award,[11] and two Visions du Réel awards for the film,[12] which was also shortlisted for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film[13] and aired on POV on 29 August 2022.[14] In 2024, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Film and Video.[15] Jane Steiner Hoffman and Michael Hoffman donated funds for Jessica Beshir to be a 2024 Hoffman Visiting Artist for Documentary Media, a brief filmmaker residency at Northwestern's School of Communications.[16]

Beshir lives in Brooklyn.[3]

Filmography

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Year Work Note Ref
2016 He Who Dances on Wood As director; documentary short [5]
2017 Hairat As director; documentary short [6]
2017 Heroin As director, screenwriter, executive producer, producer, and additional cinematography; documentary short [17]
2017 The Gift Television miniseries [4]
2018 Kings [4]
2021 Faya Dayi As director, executive producer, producer, writer, cinematographer; documentary feature film [18]

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Recipient Results Ref
2017 Anchorage International Film Festival Jury Award He Who Dances on Wood Won [4]
2017 Edmonton International Film Festival Best Documentary Short Won
2017 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Grand Jury Prize Hairat Nominated
2021 Academy Awards Best Documentary Feature Film Faya Dayi Shortlisted [13]
Black Reel Award Best Foreign Language Film Nominated [19]
Cinema Eye Honors Outstanding Non-Fiction Feature Nominated [20]
Outstanding Direction Nominated
Outstanding Cinematography Nominated
Outstanding Debut Nominated
Critics' Choice Documentary Awards Best Cinematography Nominated [21]
Best First Documentary Feature Nominated
Gotham Awards Best Documentary Nominated [22]
Visions du Réel Grand Jury Prize Won [12]
Fipresci International Critics Award Won
2022 American Society of Cinematographers Awards Documentary Award Won [10]
Independent Spirit Awards The Truer Than Fiction Award Won [11] Her short film "Hairat," which debuted at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, marked her directorial debut.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Pauchi Sasaki x Jessica Beshir". Film Fest Gent. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  2. ^ a b c "Interview With Jessica Beshir on FAYA DAYI -". Festival Kit. 10 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b Wilkinson, Amber (16 February 2021). "Interview with Jessica Bashir about Faya Dayi". www.eyeforfilm.co.uk. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Beshir, Jessica". African Film Festival, Inc. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  5. ^ a b King, Heather (1 September 2023). "'He Who Dances on Wood' and finding yourself". Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Wilkinson, Amber (27 March 2017). "Hairat (2016) Movie Review from Eye for Film". Eye for Film. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  7. ^ "Jessica Beshir". IFFR EN. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  8. ^ Carey, Matthew (6 April 2021). "Janus Films Takes North American Rights To 'Faya Dayi', "Gorgeously Cinematic" Doc From Director Jessica Beshir". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  9. ^ "An Evening with Faya dayi Director Jessica Beshir". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  10. ^ a b Pedersen, Erik (21 March 2022). "ASC Awards: 'Dune' Takes Cinematographers' Top Film Prize – Full Winners List". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  11. ^ a b Lang, Brent; Earl, William; Chapman, Wilson (6 March 2022). "Spirit Awards 2022 Winners: 'The Lost Daughter,' 'Reservation Dogs' Score in Diversity-Focused Ceremony". Variety. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  12. ^ a b Hopewell, John (24 April 2021). "Visions du Réel Prizes 'Faya Dayi,' '1970,' 'Les Enfants Terribles'". Variety. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  13. ^ a b "94th Oscars Shortlists" (Press release). Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  14. ^ "Faya Dayi". POV. PBS. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  15. ^ "MEET OUR 2024 FELLOWS". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  16. ^ "FAYA DAYI (2021) with filmmaker Jessica Beshir: Block Museum - Northwestern University". www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 16 April 2025.
  17. ^ "Heroin | 2017 Tribeca Festival". Tribeca. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  18. ^ "FAYA DAYI". DOC NYC. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  19. ^ "Faya Dayi_Foreign". Black Reel Awards. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  20. ^ Grobar, Matt (10 November 2021). "'Flee' & 'Summer Of Soul' Lead Cinema Eye Honors Nominations". Deadline. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  21. ^ Lattanzio, Ryan (18 October 2021). "'Ascension' and 'Summer of Soul' Lead Critics Choice Documentary Nominations". IndieWire. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  22. ^ Lewis, Hilary (21 October 2021). "Gotham Awards: The Lost Daughter, Passing Lead Nominations". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 10 January 2025.
  23. ^ https://www.mainemedia.edu/faculty/list/jessica-beshir/
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