say hello
jessdicosta@gmail.com

about

Jess is a filmmaker and visual artist based in Sydney. Having graduated with a First-Class Honours degree from COFA (UNSW College of Fine Arts) Jess was 1 of 30 students selected nation wide to exhibit at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art for her graduating film, Apartment Block No.10.

In 2019, Jess received a scholarship funded by the San Sebastián International Film Festival to complete her masters in Film Creation at experimental film school, Elías Querejeta Zine Eskola in San Sebastián, Spain.

Since returning to Australia, her films have been screened and exhibited both nationally and internationally at the likes of SXSW Sydney, Venice’s Arte Laguna Prize, St Kilda Film Festival, Cannes Art Film Festival, Venice Film Week, Gosford Art Prize, Girra National Art Prize, Wyndham Art Prize, Kalgoorlie-Boulder National Art Prize, Prospect Portrait Prize, Arts in the Valley, Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize as well as garnering accolades such as the inaugural TWT Excellence Award and the Tony White Memorial Art Award.


 























                            

In 2023, Jess was 1 of 50 international directors selected to participate in PlayLab Film’s ‘Creator’s Lab’ with Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Memoria, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) in Yucatán, Mexico. Her film, See Me Living, was 1 of 10 selected from the Lab for International distribution in 2024.

Jess was recently awarded a Fellowship grant to continue her practice with 16mm film in Paris as part of a residency in 2025. She is also currently in development for her debut feature film, When Mama Was Moth.