Jessica Devaney

Producer/Assistant Editor

Jessica Devaney is a digital communications strategist with a decade of experience in technology and social change advocacy. She is the Communications and Production Manager at Just Vision, an organization that creates multimedia tools, including documentary films and educational materials, profiling Palestinian and Israeli civilians working nonviolently to end the occupation and bring freedom, justice, security and peace to the region.

Jessica oversees Just Vision’s online communications strategy, including web development and new media engagement; directs design and branding; and manages the post-production of all documentary film and digital video materials.

Jessica is the Associate Producer of Budrus (2009), an award-winning documentary about a Palestinian community organizer who unites local political factions along with Israeli supporters in an unarmed movement to save his village from destruction by Israel’s Separation Barrier. It was hailed as the year’s “must-see documentary” in the The New York Times.

Jessica is the producer of Just Vision's short film series Home Front: Portraits from Sheikh Jarrah (2011) profiling nonviolent efforts in East Jerusalem and co-producer of the 25-minute documentary My Neighbourhood (2012), which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was broadcast on Al Jazeera.

Jessica graduated from Wake Forest University in 2006 with an MA in Religion and Society, after conducting extensive research on Palestinian and Israeli women’s movements and interviewing numerous veteran feminist activists. Jessica’s interest in creative unarmed resistance led her to produce a documentary installation, Beauty in the Uprising, which, through interviews with Palestinian and Israeli artists, explores the role of art in resistance, conflict resolution and social change.

In 2007, she completed an additional year of study at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsch School of Foreign Service where she focused on global feminisms and online organizing and creative unarmed resistance in the Middle East. She has published articles on these topics in the Practicing Anthropology and presented at academic conferences such as the Society of Applied Anthropology and the National Women’s Studies Association.

 

 

Filmography
My Neighbourhood (Co-Producer, 2012)
Home Front: Portraits from Sheikh Jarrah (Producer, 2011)
Budrus (Associate Producer, Assistant Editor, 2009)

Awards
Budrus

  • King Hussein Leadership Prize, 2009
  • Winner, Panorama Audience Award Second Prize, Berlin International Film Festival, 2010
  • Winner, Special Jury Mention, Tribeca Film Festival, 2010
  • Winner, Audience Award, San Francisco International Film Festival, 2010
  • Winner, Honorable Mention for Best Documentary in the Spirit of Freedom Award, Jerusalem International Film Festival, 2010
  • Winner, Witness Award at Silverdocs Film Festival, 2010
  • Winner, Honorable Mention of the Jury, Documenta Madrid 10
  • Winner, Amnesty Italia Award, Pesaro Film Festival, 2010
  • Winner, Founders Prize, Best of Fest, Nonfiction, Traverse City Film Festival, 2010
  • Winner, Checkpoints Award, Bergen International Film Festival, 2010
  • Winner, Festival des Libertés Prize, Festival des Libertés, 2010
  • Winner, Spirit of Freedom Documentary Award, Bahamas International Film Festival, 2010
  • Circles of Change Award, 2010
  • The Common Ground Award, 2010
  • Winner, Amnesty's Matter of Act Human Rights Award, Movies That Matter Film Festival, 2011
  • Winner, Jury Award for Excellence in Documenting a Human Rights Issue, Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival, 2011
  • The Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media, 2011
  • The Ridenhour Documentary Film Prize, 2011


Festivals (Official Selection)

My Neighbourhood

  • Tribeca Film Festival, 2012
  • Al Jazeera International Documentary Festival, 2012


Home Front: Portraits from Sheikh Jarrah

  • Aspen ShortsFest, 2012


Budrus

  • Dubai International Film Festival, 2009
  • Berlin International Film Festival, 2010
  • Tribeca Film Festival, 2010
  • HotDocs Film Festival, 2010
  • Panorama Audience Award Second Prize, Berlin International Film Festival, 2010
  • San Francisco International Film Festival, 2010
  • Jerusalem International Film Festival, 2010
  • Silverdocs Film Festival, 2010
  • Documenta Madrid, 2010
  • Pesaro Film Festival, 2010
  • Traverse City Film Festival, 2010
  • Bergen International Film Festival, 2010
  • Festival des Libertés, 2010
  • Bahamas International Film Festival, 2010
  • Human Rights Watch International Film Festival London, 2010
  • Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 2010
  • E Tudo Verdade/It’s All True Film Festival, 2010
  • Sydney Film Festival, 2010
  • Planete Doc Review, 2010
  • Documentarist Film Festival, Istanbul, 2010
  • DokuFest Kosovo, 2010
  • Woods Hole Film Festival, 2010
  • Rhode Island International Film Festival, 2010
  • EBS International Documentary Festival, Korea, 2010
  • Festival do Rio, 2010
  • Take One Action Film Festival, 2010
  • Mumbai International Film Festival, 2010
  • Festival des Libertes, 2010
  • Jihlava International Documentary Festival, 2010
  • St. Louis International Film Festival, 2010
  • Milwaukee International Film Festival, 2010
  • Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, 2010
  • Jakarta International Film Festival, 2010
  • Bend Film Festival, 2010
  • Toronto Palestine Film Festival, 2010
  • Boston Palestine Film Festival, 2010
  • Arab Film Festival, 2010
  • Rehoboth Beach Film Festival, 2010
  • Ad Hoc: Inconvenient Films, 2010
  • One World Film Festival, 2010
  • Lens Politica Film Festival, 2010
  • Doha Tribeca Film Festival, 2010
  • Reykjavik International Film Festival, 2010
  • Camden International Film Festival, 2010
  • Palestine Human Rights Film Festival, 2010
  • Global Peace Film Festival, 2010
  • International Women's Film Festival, 2010
  • San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, 2010
  • Movies That Matter Film Festival, 2011
  • Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival, 2011