Jessica Kingdon is a

Chinese American Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...

director and producer. She was nominated for the 2022

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

for directing the documentary ''Ascension''.

Career

Kingdon received her BA from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 2009 and her MA in media studies from

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

in 2014. She directed the 2017 documentary ''Commodity City,'' which focuses on the lives of Chinese wholesalers in

Yiwu International Trade City Yiwu International Trade City (), also known as the Yiwu Market, is the primary wholesale market complex in Yiwu, Zhejiang, China. According to the World Bank, it is the world's largest small commodities market. In 2013, the market sold US$11 bil ...

, the world's largest wholesale market. The documentary won Best Documentary Short in the 2018

Ashland Independent Film Festival The Ashland Independent Film Festival is held in Ashland, Oregon, United States. It has been organized by the non-profit Southern Oregon Film Society since 2001. Founded by D.W. and Steve Wood, the festival is held each spring over five days at th ...

. Her documentary, ''Ascension'', looks at China's growing economic progress and increasing economic divide against the backdrop of the pursuit of the

Chinese Dream The Chinese Dream () is a term closely associated with Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and China's paramount leader. Xi began promoting the phrase as a slogan during a high-profile tour of an exhibit at th ...

. The film had its world premiere at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

on June 12, 2021, and received critical acclaim. The film was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

, a

Gotham Award The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published on ...

, five

Cinema Eye Honors The Cinema Eye Honors are awards recognizing excellence in nonfiction or documentary filmmaking and include awards for the disciplines of directing, producing, cinematography and editing. The awards are presented each January in New York and have b ...

, a

Directors Guild of America Award The Directors Guild of America Awards are issued annually by the Directors Guild of America. The first DGA Award was an "Honorary Life Member" award issued in 1938 to D. W. Griffith. The statues are made by New York firm, Society Awards. Catego ...

, a

Producers Guild of America Award The Producers Guild of America Awards were originally established in 1990 by the Producers Guild of America as the Golden Laurel Awards, created by PGA Treasurer Joel Freeman with the support of Guild President Leonard Stern, in order to honor ...

, and six

Critics' Choice Documentary Awards The Critics' Choice Documentary Awards are accolades that are presented by the Critics Choice Association to honour the finest achievements in documentary filmmaking and non-fiction television. They were established in 2016, and the first ceremony ...

. The Chinese title of the documentary was inspired by a 1912 poem written by her great-great-grandfather, a member of the

South Society The South Society (sometimes translated as ''Southern Society'' or ''Nan Society'') (Chinese: 南社, Pinyin: Nán Shè), was the largest literature and poetry organization during the late Qing dynasty China and the early period of Republican China ...

who participated in the

1911 Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...

. Kingdon was named one of the "25 new faces of independent film" by ''Filmmaker'' magazine. She was also named to the 2020 "40 under 40" list by Doc NYC.

Personal life

Kingdon is married to filmmaker

Nathan Truesdell Nathan Truesdell is an Academy Award nominated independent filmmaker. He is best known for his work on the documentary films ''Balloonfest'', ''Ascension'', and ''The Water Slide''. Life and career Truesdell comes from Clark, Missouri where he ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingdon, Jessica Living people American directors American documentary filmmakers American people of Chinese descent American people of Jewish descent Columbia College (New York) alumni People from New York City Filmmakers from New York (state) The New School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) American women documentary filmmakers