Jessica Sanders is a renowned director and producer of narrative and documentary films, as well as commercials, who has gained widespread recognition and accolades throughout her career.
Her improvised comedy "I Want to Feel Fun" will have its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, one of the 13,000 short films selected for the prestigious event.
In 2021, Jessica's martial arts action comedy short film "The Cocktail Party" premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, exploring themes of female empowerment, and went on to win numerous international festival awards.
Her short film "End of the Line" premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and is based on a short story by acclaimed writer Aimee Bender, exploring themes of power and its abuse. The film features Brett Gelman and Simon Helberg and was produced for Refinery29 and TNT's Anthology Sharraybox film series.
Jessica also directed and executive produced the TV pilot "Embrace," which won the 2020 SXSW Film Festival Grand Jury Prize and premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The pilot was executive produced by Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali.
She is set to direct and produce the feature film "Cotton," based on the New York Times best-seller and a story from her Sundance-winning documentary "After Innocence." The film tells the true story of Ronald Cotton, a young black man wrongfully identified as a rapist and sent to life in prison.
Jessica's first feature documentary film "After Innocence" tells the moving story of innocent men wrongfully imprisoned for decades and exonerated after DNA testing proved their innocence. The film won the Sundance Special Jury Prize and numerous festival awards before being released theatrically by New Yorker Films and premiering on Showtime.
Her documentary short "Sing!" about the Los Angeles Children's Choir was nominated for an Academy Award, and she also directed the feature documentary "March of the Living," about the last generation of Holocaust survivors returning to the sites of the Holocaust in Poland with teenagers from Sao Paulo, Berlin, and Los Angeles.
Jessica's commercial career was launched when Steve Jobs handpicked her to direct Apple's iPad launch campaign. She won the coveted Cannes Young Director's Award for her "Sony Make.Believe" film, which also won an AICP award. As an award-winning commercial director, Jessica has directed campaigns for Apple, Amazon, Samsung, Honda, Toyota, Procter & Gamble, and many others.
Jessica studied film at Wesleyan University under Professor Jeanine Basinger and graduated cum laude in English and Film Studies. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Directors Guild of America, and is an advisor on the Commercial Director's Diversity Program.
