Jacob Kessler is an artist and educator working at the intersection of documentary and experimental film. His work incorporates collaborative docufictions and emphasizes the tactile materiality of 16mm film to represent intersubjective and sensorial experience.

Jacob’s films have been featured in festivals, platforms, and venues across the globe including Chicago Underground Film Festival, Mimesis Documentary Festival, Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival, Experimental Film Festival Process, Ethnografilm Paris, Experimental Superstars, Moviate Underground Film Festival, NoBudge, Union Cinema, Doc Films, Baltic Analog Lab, and more. Jacob’s film Radio Jammer was awarded Best-in-Show at the 2024 Iowa City International Documentary Film Festival (ICDOCS). During the summer of 2024, he was an artist-in-residence at Baltic Analog Lab.

Jacob holds a BA in Philosophy & Religious Studies and English Language & Literature from Pace University, a Certificate in Filmmaking from New York University, and an MFA in Documentary Media and Certificate in Critical Theory from Northwestern University. At the University of Iowa, he is Assistant Professor of Instruction in Film and Video Production and Programming Director for ICDOCS.