Philoxenia

Jessica Chriesman is a filmmaker based in Birmingham, Alabama. The daughter of a journalist and a librarian, she learned to craft a story at an early age. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Filmmaking and a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she made a variety of films. Since 2015, she has had the privilege of participating in film festivals across the United States including Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, and Vermont. In 2019, she was a finalist in Tribeca Film Institute’s IF/Then Pitch Competition. As an independent filmmaker, she uses her skills and talents to direct, produce, write, shoot, and edit her own work and tell the stories of clients across the south.

Compelled by stories of people and places, in her budding career Jessica has focused on telling Southern stories through the lenses of food & culture, social justice & history, and nonprofit organizations & the populations they serve.