Lisa F. Jackson

has enjoyed a long and storied career as an Emmy award-winning, New York City based independent filmmaker.

Woman filming with a video camera on a hill overlooking a river and trees.

Born in San Francisco, she was a CIA brat and had a peripatetic childhood, living in Bangkok and Bogota before settling in Washington DC for high school. Lisa studied at MIT with legendary documentarian Richard Leacock and over the course of her forty-year career has filmed in Siberia, Cuba, Guatemala, the DR Congo and on death row in Huntsville, Texas.

Her documentaries have been platformed on HBO, ABC and PBS and screened internationally, winning prizes in Rome, San Francisco and Tehran, garnering two Emmy Awards, five Emmy nominations, and a Sundance Special Jury Prize. Jackson’s film “The Greatest Silence” inspired UN Security Council Resolution #1820 about sexual violence as a weapon of war.   

Critics have praised Lisa for getting people to speak frankly about the toughest subjects, and for taking on those subjects with intelligence and courage.

A courtroom scene with a panel of six judges sitting behind a wooden bench, an American flag to the left, and various people sitting at tables with microphones and bottles of water in front of them.
Black and white photo of a protest with women holding signs, with a yellow crime scene tape in the foreground reading 'SEX CRIMES UNIT.'
Two women standing together outdoors in a natural setting with trees and grass in the background. One woman is dressed casually with a scarf and jacket, holding a camera, while the other woman is in a police uniform with round sunglasses and a beret.

In 2014, a story brought her to Baja California Sur, Mexico, where local fishermen were battling a multinational developer that was threatening the beach they’d used for generations.

That film became Patrimonio, which premiered at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival, won audience awards in San Francisco and Tehran, and was hailed in Variety as "thoroughly engrossing." During the filming, Lisa got to know a local cattle rancher named Quirino Cota and in 2016 she made the precipitous decision to leave New York City and move to Todos Santos.  She became a Mexican citizen in 2025 and has written her first book, a memoir called The Unexpected Ranchero.

A film poster titled 'Patrimonio' with a subtitle indicating it is a film by Lisa F. Jackson and Sarah Teale. The background features five men standing on a sidewalk in a sunny urban area with palm trees and cars. A large banner above them reads 'Todos somos y visitantes... Defendamos Punta Lobos, unete a la lucha: La Playa es TUYA!!'. The poster also includes the logo of 'Kulinarisches Kino' at the bottom right and production credits at the bottom.
Photographer recording police officers with shields on a dirt road in a rural area.
A man and a woman smiling and posing together outdoors, with the man wearing a baseball cap and the woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat and bandana, in a sunny environment with horses in the background.

“Jackson is remarkably adept in getting her subjects to speak frankly and thoughtfully.”

— The New York Times

Selected Films

  • Patrimonio

    2018·World premiere, Berlin Film Festival

    A Baja fishing town rises up against a mega-development that threatens its water and beaches.

    Co-Producer/Director, Cinematographer

  • Grazers

    2014·Premiered at DOCNYC

    Upstate New York farmers form a beef cooperative to save their struggling farms.

    Co-Director, Cinematographer

  • It Happened Here

    2014·Pivot TV

    Exposes the pervasiveness of sexual assault on U.S. college campuses and the failure of schools to protect students.

    Director

  • Sex Crimes Unit

    2011·HBO

    A vérité portrait of Manhattan prosecutors seeking justice for victims of sexual violence.

    Producer, Director, Writer

  • The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo

    2007·HBO·Sundance Special Jury Prize

    Breaking the silence around sexual violence as a weapon of war in the Congo.

    Director, Writer, Cinematographer

  • Adoption

    2001–2003·The Hallmark Channel

    Five shows for the acclaimed series, including stories shot in Guatemala, Siberia and rural Wisconsin.

    Director, Writer

  • Meeting with a Killer: One Family’s Journey

    2001·Court TV·Emmy nominee

    Fifteen years after a murder, the victim’s mother and daughter meet one of her killers face to face.

    Producer, Director

  • Life Afterlife

    1999·HBO

    Believers, skeptics and scientists explore whether we can communicate with the dead.

    Producer, Director

  • The Secret Life of Barbie

    1998·ABC News·Emmy Award

    An irreverent consideration of the public and private life of the world’s most famous doll.

    Producer, Director

  • Firefighters

    1997·The Learning Channel

    A month in the life of a Boston fire station.

    Director, Writer, Cinematographer

  • A Passion to Play

    1997·ABC Sports

    Profiles of three 14-year-old athletes: tennis star Anna Kournikova, race car driver Danica Patrick and figure skater Tara Lipinski.

    Director, Writer

  • Smart Sex

    1994·MTV

    Young people talk candidly about how they navigate safer sex.

    Producer, Director

  • Why Am I Gay?

    1993·HBO

    Gay men and women share their coming-out stories, culminating at the 1993 March on Washington.

    Co-Director

  • The Other Epidemic

    1993·ABC News

    A one-hour special about breast cancer.

    Producer, Director

  • Through Madness

    1993·PBS·New York Emmy Award

    Three people describe living with schizophrenia and manic depression, from the inside out.

    Co-Director, Editor

Awards & Honors

  • Legacy Award2022 · Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival · First ever given
  • Muse Award2012 · New York Women in Film & Television
  • iWitness Award2009 · Jewish World Watch
  • Gracie Award2009 · American Women in Radio & Television
  • Woman of Courage Award2009 · UCSF
  • Best Documentary Awards2008, 2009, 2018 · Rome Independent Film Festival · International Black DocuFest · San Francisco Green Film Festival
  • Sundance Special Jury Prize2008 · Documentary
  • Movies That Matter Award2008 · Amnesty International
  • Audience Choice Awards2000–2008 · London Human Rights Watch, One World Slovakia, Vancouver, Breckenridge, and Cinequest film festivals
  • Margaret Sanger “Maggie” Award1995 · Planned Parenthood Federation of America · Best Documentary of the Year
  • CINE Golden Eagles1980, 1999, 2004
  • Two Emmy Awards1993, 1999 · And five Emmy nominations

Lisa has screened her work and lectured at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, NYU, and Notre Dame, and taught documentary film at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan.

A smiling woman with short gray hair holding a wooden award. She is wearing a striped sleeveless top and a light scarf, standing in front of a backdrop with various logos.
Three people standing outdoors in front of a military vehicle, with green hills in the background. The individuals include a man in military uniform, a woman holding a camera, and another man in casual clothing.