Jess X. Snow

Jess X. Snow is a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, multi-disciplinary artist and author whose work bridges personal trauma-healing and the collective healing of our planet. They bring their background in murals, visual art and poetry into their surreal and sensorial films that bring the interior lives of queer Asian migrants to the big screen. Recently named one of Filmmaker Magazine's 25 New Faces of Independent Film, they have written and directed four narrative short films that can be watched on the Criterion Channel and the National Film Board of Canada. Previously they have screened at classrooms, museums and festivals including: International Film Festival Rotterdam, BFI London, BlackStar, SFFilm, Durban (Special Mention of the Jury) and elsewhere. They are a Film Independent Fast Track fellow for their debut narrative feature, WHEN THE RIVER SPLIT OPEN. From 2022-2025 they served as a producer and cinematographer on WE WERE THE SCENERY (Sundance Short Film Jury Award for Non-Fiction) shortlisted for the 98th Academy Awards and named a best short of the year by Vimeo Staff Picks and Film Comment. 

They received their MFA in screenwriting and directing from NYU in 2023 and have participated in fellowships with Sloan Science in Film, Tribeca Film Institute and Cine Qua Non Lab. Specializing in cross-cultural storytelling, across fiction and non-fiction, their filmmaking have taken them from North America to China, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Jess has been selected as one of two 2023 recipients of the Kyoko Arai Fund, a gift made possible by Kyoko and Yuki Arai (NYU Stern '10, MBA), who hope to encourage diverse voices and stories in the film industry.