Bess Kargman is an American

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

, best known for her 2025 film “Diane Warren: Relentless,” her 2020 YouTube documentary series “Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women’s Gymnastics” and her 2011 film '' First Position''.

Early life

Kargman grew up in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

with two siblings, Harry and Sophie. She studied at

Boston Ballet The Boston Ballet is an American professional classical ballet company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams and Sydney Leonard, and was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. ...

for almost a decade and attended the

Shady Hill School Shady Hill School, or SHS, is an independent, co-educational day school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, Shady Hill serves students in pre-kindergarten (called 'Beginners' by the school) through 8th grade. The school has an enrollmen ...

. She stopped

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

and began playing competitive sports including tennis, soccer, skiing and ice hockey. She attended high school at

Concord Academy Concord Academy (also known as CA) is a coeducational, Independent school, independent University-preparatory school, college-preparatory school for boarding and day students in Concord, Massachusetts. CA educates approximately 400 students in ...

Concord, Massachusetts Concord () is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. In the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is n ...

before studying fine arts and playing varsity ice hockey at

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

. She earned a Masters in Science from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in 2008.

Career

After graduating from Amherst, Kargman moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where she earned her real estate license and took night classes in op-ed writing. In 2006, she published her first op-ed in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' and later enrolled in

Columbia University School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism scho ...

, where she earned a concentration in documentary and new media studies. After she graduated journalism school, the recession hit and Kargman worked as an unpaid intern at a production company, where she found her inspiration for her future film, '' First Position.'' To create the film, she started her own production company and hired a crew.

''First Position''

For ''First Position'', Kargman spent over a year following six young ballet dancers from around the world as they prepared for the 2010 Youth America Grand Prix finals in

. The documentary was picked up by Sundance Selects/IFC Films and premiered at the 2011

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

and later in nearly 200 theaters. ''First Position'' was a hit among film critics, at film festivals, and with audiences, and it has won various awards, including both the Audience Award and Best New Director at the

Portland International Film Festival PAM CUT–Center for an Untold Tomorrow, formerly the ''Northwest Film Center'' is a regional media arts resource and service organization based in Portland, Oregon, United States that was founded to encourage the study, appreciation, and utilizati ...

, the Audience Award at the Dallas International Film Festival, and the Jury Prize at the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival. It received 93% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

''COACH''

In 2013, Kargman directed and edited an

ESPN Films ESPN Films, formerly known as ESPN Original Entertainment (EOE), is an American production company which produces and distributes sports films and documentaries. It is owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which o ...

documentary short ''COACH'' about legendary

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer as a part of

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's "

Nine for IX ''Nine for IX'' is the title for a series of documentary films which aired on ESPN. The documentaries were produced by ESPN Films in conjunction with espnW, and were intended to have the same creative, story-driven aspect as ESPN Films' other ser ...

" series, for which

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ...

served as executive producer. ''COACH'' won Best Documentary Short at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and received a nomination for a Sports Emmy.

Other projects

Kargman has directed and/or created documentary shorts for

Teen Vogue ''Teen Vogue'' is an American progressive online publication, formerly in print, launched in January 2003, as a sister publication to '' Vogue'', targeted at teenage girls and young women. Like ''Vogue'', it included stories about fashion and ...

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, and the

NBC Olympics ''NBC Olympics'' is the commercial name for the NBC Sports-produced broadcasts of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games as shown in the United States on NBCUniversal platforms. They include the NBC broadcast network and many of the company's cabl ...

. She also directs commercials and creates content for companies around the world. Kargman was selected as a fellow for the American Film Showcase, a program for the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

, to represent the United States.

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kargman, Bess Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Film directors from Massachusetts Columbia University School of General Studies alumni Shady Hill School alumni