Katja Esson
Documentary Filmmaker
Academy Award-nominee for Ferry Tales
Katja Esson is an independent filmmaker based in New York City who mixes documentary and narrative genres. Esson began her career in Miami as a production assistant for the notorious rap group 2 Live Crew. Since her days of wrangling booty-shaking babes, Esson has directed a variety of award-winning documentaries, short films, and commercials. Born and raised in Germany, Esson brings a quirky European sensibility to the distinctively American subjects she chooses.
Her documentary short Ferry Tales which turns the unlikely setting of the Staten Island Ferry Powder Room into a celebration of sisterhood received an Academy Award®-nomination in 2004 and aired on HBO. Her film Skydancer received a Jerome Foundation Grant in 2008. In 2006 she completed Hole in the Sky – The Scars of 9/11, which premiered at ‘Sunny Side of the Doc’ and received the Gold Award at the World Media Festival.
Season of Madness (2006), her first narrative short film played extensively at international film festivals. It is based on the haunting, lyrical short story by renowned Lebanese author Hanan a-Shayk and tells the tale of a rebellious Iranian woman who feigns insanity in order to escape her own traditional marriage—only to have her plans backfire.
She is currently in pre-production with Poetry of Resilience, a film about six poets who survived human atrocities, and their stories of transformation for which she received the Simons Fellowship for the Humanities at Kansas University in 2007. Recently completed is Latching On, a documentary about the cultural complexities behind the simple act of breastfeeding. She is also in production with Skydancer, a film about the Mohawk tradition of ironworking.
Other credits include the documentaries Vertical Traveler (2001), which explores the pioneering spirit of New York City through the metaphoric story of the city’s unique relationship with elevators. The film was broadcast on PBS and on Europe’s ARTE Channel. Searching for Sense (2002), an artist’s reflection on 9/11 also aired on PBS.
Adam–Retortenbaby Als Lebensretter (2003) commissioned by ARTE and Germany’s ARD stirred up significant debate in the German medical community. The film examines the thorny issues raised by pre-implantation genetic diagnosis by focusing on a child "designed" to be a perfect donor for his sister. Also commissioned for ARTE: Siegfried & Roy – Ein MäRchen Für Erwachsene (2004), Vermisst- Geiseldrama in der Sahara (2005), and New York Harbor (2005).
She also works regularly for German television and, in 1997, she received a fellowship for her screenplay El Aleman at Berlin’s Master School.
• Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Short
• Woodstock Film Festival, Honorable Mention
• Seattle International Film Festival
• Florida Film Festival
• Palm Springs International Film Festival
• Brooklyn International Film Festival
Katja Esson Website | Women Make Movies Website
Poetry of Resilience 6-minute Trailer
Skydancer Trailer
Latching On Trailer
