Fig Films is named after a cat.
Both Jessi and Holly are obsessed with cats; especially their own rescue cats Fig (Holly’s) and Wesley (Jessi’s). Wesley Films didn’t quite flow so Fig became the leading contender. But once we started looking into figs, it transpired that the name was even more apt for this production company than we had first realised. The fig fruit has a remarkable and symbolic history. In Greek and Italian, the word for ‘fig’ evolved to mean ‘vulva’. In Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, the fig tree becomes iconic for the protagonist Esther’s inner turmoil, as a young woman torn between the different wishes and desires she feels and society tells her to feel.
In a serendipitous way, the fig became a symbol for us and the kind of films we want to make. We want to represent and join others in a new wave of feminine filmmaking which is intersectional; where power, ego and hierarchy are replaced with respect, humility and equality. We believe a lens is a powerful tool that has the potential to help heal and empower the people it focuses on. Rather than pander to patronising claims of ‘giving voice to the voiceless’, we want to collaborate in partnership with historically marginalised people and grow Fig Films to be representative of those communities. We’ve created a manifesto which explains our ethos and goals further - that you can read here.
As well as making independent films, we make creative content for charities and ethical organisations. Please contact us through the form below to discuss collaborations and projects. We look forward to working with you.
Jessi is a BAFTA Elevate Producer, BIFA nominated Writer and alumni of BFI NETWORK @ LFF. Living with incurable ovarian cancer, she is committed to working with disabled talent and representing illness, death and dying in a more empowering and uplifting way.
A documentary director at heart who has recently discovered a love/hate relationship with producing and writing authentic narrative stories. She is particularly passionate about the hybrid and experimental documentary form and making films about the climate crisis that aren’t issue-based. Her short films have screened at BAFTA qualifying festivals including Edinburgh International Film Festival, BFI Flare and Aesthetica Short Film Festival. The Forgotten C was nominated for the BIFA Best British Short award and acquired by the Wellcome Trust.
In 2022 she was selected for a special initiative by director Asif Kapadia at Sheffield Doc/Fest, focusing on emerging filmmaking talent. She is also taking part in Edinburgh International Film Festival’s Talent Lab 2022 - with feature project My Cells are Trying to Kill Me.
Films she wishes she made: The Arbor (2010), Island of Hungry Ghosts (2018), The Florida Project (2017), Capernaum (2018), Limbo (2020), Rocks (2019), Cathy Come Home (1966), Girlhood (2014), The Act of Killing (2012), Waltz with Bashir (2008), Divorce Iranian Style (1998), Moonlight (2016), Uncut Gems (2019), The Worst Person In The World (2022).
Holly has over seven years experience shooting, producing and directing creative award-winning documentary, charity and branded projects. Her debut documentary The Home for Broken Toys was an immediate success, screening at festivals worldwide and winning multiple awards. In 2022, she produced and directed British Red Cross’ most successful DRTV advert which directly fundraised over £1m for the Ukraine Crisis Appeal.
She is an accomplished self-shooter who specialises in filming in complex global environments - most recently Syria and Bangladesh. Often navigating highly sensitive topics (such as human trafficking and chronic loneliness), Holly produces intimate cuts that delicately observe, challenge and uplift. She treats philosophical or existential themes through a visually creative lens, and seeks wherever possible to find lightness, humour and hope in the dark.
Her MA in Ethnographic & Documentary Filmmaking (with UCL’s prestigious Open City Docs) provided the grounding for her rigorous ethical approach and co-production filmmaking practices today, and she has since returned to co-teach anthropology undergraduates on the ethics of filmmaking. She is especially passionate about exploring issues with and through the eyes of the individuals/groups affected by them. This collective opportunity to find out what it means to be human, what makes us connect, and how we can work together to make the world a kinder, brighter place forms the heartbeat of her work.
Films she wishes she made: Sergei Dvortsevoy's In the Dark (2004), Notes on Blindness (2016), The Work (2017), Honeyland (2019), Rocks (2019), I, Daniel Blake (2016), Sherpa (2015), Blight (1996), Brassed Off (1996), You Have No Idea How Much I Love You (2016), It's All Right, It's Ok (2017), Pickle (2016), A Bunch of Amateurs (2022).
Until The Tide Creeps In
World Premiere
Edinburgh International Film Festival (Edinburgh, UK)
Octopus
Screening
Brighton & Hove Pride Film Festival (Brighton, UK)
Call Us CRIPtic
World Premiere
Tate Modern Lates (London, UK)
Focus Filmmaker Talent
Special Initiative
Sheffield Doc/Fest (Sheffield, UK)
BAFTA Elevate Producers
Launch Event
BAFTA Piccadilly (London, UK)
Octopus
World Premiere
BFI Flare (London, UK)
Blind as a Beat
World Premiere
Aesthetica Short Film Festival (York, UK)
BFI NETWORK @ LFF
Talent Development Initiative
London Film Festival (London, UK)
The Forgotten C
Tape Collective Screening
Brainchild Festival (Lewes, UK)
The Forgotten C
Lockdown Shorts Screening
BFI Woman with a Movie Camera Summit (London, UK)
The Home for Broken Toys
Multiple Screenings
Kendal Mountain Festival China Tour (Chengdu; Shanghai; Beijing, China)
The Forgotten C
Nominated: Best British Short
British Independent Film Awards (London, UK)
The Home for Broken Toys
Multiple Screenings
Sheffield Adventure Film Festival ‘Wild Swim’ Programme (Online)
The Home for Broken Toys
Screening
Sheffield Adventure Film Festival ‘Adventure Activism & Rebellion’ Programme (Online)
The Home for Broken Toys
Won: Best Documentary (Short)
London Rocks! Film Festival (London, UK)
The Forgotten C
World Premiere
Online
The Home for Broken Toys
Nominated: Best Documentary (Short)
Wales International Film Festival (Online)
The Home for Broken Toys
Screening
London Mountain Film Festival (Online)
The Home for Broken Toys
Screening
Wander Wild Festival (Online)
The Home for Broken Toys
Screening
Irish Adventure Film Festival (Westport, Ireland)
The Home for Broken Toys
Multiple Screenings
Kendal Mountain Festival ‘Best of Kendal’ Tour (Nottingham; Pontardawe; Oxford; Canterbury, UK)
The Home for Broken Toys
Screening
Pakistan International Mountain Film Festival (Islamabad, Pakistan)
The Home for Broken Toys
Won: People’s Choice Award
Kendal Mountain Festival (Kendal, UK)
The Home for Broken Toys
Screening
Panorama of the European Film Festival (Cairo, Egypt)
The Home for Broken Toys
Won: Best Photography in Documentary
Southampton International Film Festival (Southampton, UK)
The Home for Broken Toys
World Premiere
Maine Outdoor Film Festival (Portland, Maine, USA)