Jessica Gorter is a Dutch documentary filmmaker. She studied directing and editing at the Dutch Film and Television Academy in Amsterdam. Her films revolve around the tension between personal memories and history at large. They are acclaimed for never being unequivocal and characterized by her visual and observing style.
Her films are screened worldwide at film festivals, theatrically released, and broadcast internationally. Gorter made her breakthrough with 900 Days (2011) about the myth and reality of the Leningrad blockade. The film won a.o. and the IDFA Award for Best Dutch Documentary, the Prix Interreligieux at Visions du Réel, and the special jury prize at ArtDocFest in Moscow. In 2014, Jessica received the prestigious Documentary Award from the Dutch Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund for her work.
Earlier in her career, she made the short poetic documentary Ferryman across the Volga (1997, Prix de RTBF) and Piter (IFFR, 2004): a captivating look into the lives of seven residents of Saint Petersburg at a turning point in history. In her third feature-length film, The Red Soul (2017), the director investigated why Stalin is still seen as a hero by so many Russians. Her latest documentary The Dmitriev Affair (2023) is a thematic continuation of all the films she has made in Russia since the 90s: laying bare the consequences for individual lives of the disintegration of the Soviet Union.
