Jillian Schlesinger is an independent documentary maker whose work accompanies emerging visionaries on collaborative filmmaking adventures. 

Jillian produced, edited, and co-directed HUMMINGBIRDS (2024), Silvia Del Carmen Castaños’ & Estefanía “Beba” Contreras’ self-portrait of a coming-of-age summer in their hometown on the Texas-Mexico border. HUMMINGBIRDS won the Berlinale Generation Grand Prize for Best Film, received Critic’s Pick reviews from The New York Times and Indiewire, and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary.

Jillian produced and directed MAIDENTRIP (2014) in collaboration with Laura Dekker on Laura’s quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone. MAIDENTRIP won Audience Awards at SXSW and CIFF among other festival honors and was released globally by First Run Features and ro*co. The film received nominations for Gotham Awards and Cinema Eye Honors as well as a spot on Indiewire’s list of the Best Documentaries of 2014.

Jillian is a 2024 Sundance Producers Fellow, 2023 DOC NYC 40 Under 40, and a member of the Documentary Producers Alliance. Jillian is an instructor at DCTV in New York and has been a visiting speaker at Uniondocs, Austin Film Society, and Wexner Center for the Arts. Her commissioned work has been featured in The New Yorker, The Guardian, and AJ+.

Jillian lives in Brooklyn with her partner Miguel Drake-McLaughlin and their youngest collaborators, Mateo and Arlo.