Jessica M. Thompson

Jessica M. Thompson is an Australian film and television writer, director, editor and producer, who resides in Los Angeles. Early life and education Thompson grew up in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, Australia and is of partial Maltese heritage. Thompson studied at the Sydney Theatre Company and University of Technology Sydney, where she received a B.A. in Media Arts and Production. Career Thompson worked as a film editor in Sydney, before moving to New York City in 2010, where she founded Stedfast Productions. She edited Cheryl Furjanic's documentary, Back on Board, which premiered on HBO in August 2015 and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2016. Thompson has also worked as a film editor with filmmakers Liz Garbus and Edet Belzberg. Thompson made her feature writing and directorial debut with The Light of the Moon (2017), starring Stephanie Beatriz, Michael Stahl-David, and Conrad Ricamora. It had its premiere at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival in March 2017, where it won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Film. Critics called the film "harrowingly effective" (Variety), "honest and complex" (The Hollywood Reporter), and Film Inquiry stated that, “For any filmmaker this would be an unmitigated triumph, but for a first time filmmaker this is revelatory.” The Light of the Moon had a limited North American theatrical release in November–December 2017. The film has a 97% score on review-aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.