Jessica McGaugh

Photo by Kelly Spencer

Jessica McGaugh is an award-winning filmmaker and a tenure-track faculty member in the School of Theatre, Television, and Film at San Diego State University. She teaches production courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels.  Jessica received an MFA in Film from Syracuse University with a Certificate of Advanced Study in Women’s Studies. She was a faculty member for fourteen years in the Department of Film & Television at the University of Colorado Denver, where she won numerous teaching awards and served as Interim Department Chair spring 2020.

Jessica’s work celebrates diversity and inclusion through her use of underrepresented characters, storylines, and project collaborators. Her films have screened across the globe including the Vancouver Film Festival, Mumbai International Film Festival, Denver Film Festival, NDTV and Rocky Mountain PBS. Jessica’s feature films Red Pearl and Three Worlds, One Stage are available through iTunes/AppleTV, Amazon, Roku, Vudu, and Walmart.

Jessica’s recent release, Tina Tina Bo Bina, follows a fictional performance artist struggling to balance the expectations of motherhood with fulfilling her wild side through art-making. Jessica’s project Womanhood: The Series, a collection of comedic short films, aims to break the taboos associated with women’s bodies and gender expectations. The series’ team is currently in development of its second season which focuses on women in STEM careers. Season 1 was awarded “Best Series” and “Best Director” at film festivals around the globe.