Jes Therkelsen is a documentary storyteller, filmmaker, photographer, and educator
who has been telling the stories of others for over fifteen years. His most recent
project, a short documentary film entitled One Step At A Time, follows three men as they overcome drug addiction and homelessness in California’s
Central Valley. The film was an official selection of The Big Tell, a national film contest and film festival, featuring undiscovered stories from California’s
Central Valley sponsored by the Central Valley Community Foundation and Bank of America.
In 2016, Therkelsen completed Social Tactics, a short documentary film that follows installation artist Joseph Delappe as he utilizes
community volunteers to build a replicate predator drone made of corrugated cardboard
and duct tape. The film won the Best of Festival in the Broadcast Education Association’s
Festival of Media Arts.
Therkelsen has produced or directed four documentaries (Fresno To Fiji, Chinatown, Social Tactics, and Greener & Gold) that have broadcasted on regional PBS. Additionally, Jerry Brown’s Bucking Bulls screened at SlamDance Festival and Big Sky Film Festival, and is distributed through
FusionTV. The Best Part of Everything premiered at the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival and is distributed through
Snagfilms.
As a documentary photographer, Therkelsen has worked for over a decade with National Geographic Student Expeditions photographing and teaching across six continents. He has published two photobooks, White Nights and 100 Strangers, as well as exhibited work in Studio 54 in London, Gallerie Art et Miss in Paris,
the Topolyansky Gallery in St. Petersburg, as well as galleries in Washington, D.C.,
New York, Tokyo, and California.
As a documentary scholar, Therkelsen has researched the linguistic effects of teaching
documentary storytelling in short term study abroad programs and has published his
results in the Journal of Film and Video. He has given presentations and professional
talks to audiences around the world. He recently delivered a TEDx Talk entitled, “Our Relationship to Story.”
Therkelsen is a full professor of documentary storytelling at California State University, Fresno. Other professional
memberships and affiliations include Documentary Division chair of the Broadcast Education
Association; board member of the Community Media Access Collaborative; member of the
International Documentary Association; and member of the University Film & Video Association.
After earning his M.F.A. in Film and Media Arts from American University in Washington,
D.C., Therkelsen founded and operated Sensory Media Arts, a documentary production
house in Washington, D.C. that worked with private, corporate, government, and non-profit
organizations to tell inspiring stories of sustainable development, human rights,
and environmental justice meant to inform and incite action. Therkelsen’s love and
passion for teaching drew him into academia, and he served as the College of William
and Mary’s first Filmmaker-in-Residence, before taking up his current post at Fresno State. Therkelsen also has an M.B.A.
from the Craig School of Business.
When not creating or teaching media, Jes can be found in the Sierras, on his bicycle,
or in a large, open sunny field.
