Jesse Zook Mann is an American documentary producer and director best known for '' Punk Jews'' and ''My First Time''. His work has appeared on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

VICE A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character t ...

, MTV,

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

, and

The Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, manu ...

. Mann concentrates on subjects revolving around subcultures, outsiders, and activism. Mann currently lives in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, Washington. Myfirsttimejessenina2sm

Background, education, and career

Mann was born on April 13, 1980 in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, NY, and attended Walt Whitman High School on Long Island, NY. In 1998 Mann attended

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

’s television and radio program, where he directed several documentaries on local communities in the region, including ''The Southside Project'', documenting Upstate New York’s involvement in the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

. After college Mann produced films on the

Samish Indian Nation The Samish Indian Nation is a Coast Salish nation and a signatory to the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855. Samish has a government-to-government relationship with the United States of America. The Samish are a Northern Straits branch of Central Co ...

, and field produced the film ''Splitting Hairs'' that made its debut at

Silverdocs The AFI Docs (formerly Silverdocs) documentary film festival is an American international film festival created by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel. It is held every year in Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Starte ...

, and was the most watched documentary film on Hulu upon its release. Mann was a producer for

’s

LXTV LXTV is a production unit of NBCUniversal that creates lifestyle and entertainment content. Started in 2006 by former MTV executives Morgan Hertzan and Joseph Varet as a privately owned broadband TV network and website, LXTV was acquired in Januar ...

brand for several years, working on ''Open House'', ''First Look'', and ''My First Time.'' Mann won an Emmy Award for Best Sport Special for ''My First Time's'' TV movie of the

2008 Summer Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

featuring Tim Morehouse and

Sandra Fong Sandra Fong (born April 15, 1990, in New York, New York) is an American Olympic sport shooter. She is a multiple-time American junior record holder, and a three-time medalist (one gold and two silver) for the small-bore rifle prone and rifle t ...

.'' In 2010 Mann produced VICE's first original content for television on ''The Vice Guide to Everything'' for MTV. In 2012 he directed reality programing including ''Monster Mansions'' on

Discovery Networks Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Channe ...

, and ''Oddities San Francisco'' on the

Science Channel Science Channel (often simply branded as Science; abbreviated to SCI) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel features programming focusing on science related to wilderness survival, engineering, man ...

. In December 2012, Mann released his first independent film, '' Punk Jews'', documenting Jewish subcultures in New York City. The film opened to sold out screenings at the 92nd Street Y and The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. It was featured in the front page of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' website and received features in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', '' Haaretz'', and international television coverage. in 2019 Mann launched ''Mental Health Media,'' a non-profit media platform fiscally sponsored by the Northwest Film Forum focusing on education around innovative treatments of depression and mental illness.

References

External links

Zookmann.comPunk JewsMentalHealthMedia.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mann, Jesse Zook 1980 births Living people American documentary filmmakers Ithaca College alumni