J.J. Anderson is a self-taught filmmaker who fell in love with the connective power of storytelling while attending her parents’ NA & AA meetings as a kid. The witnessing of such vulnerable exchanges inspired her focus on creating loving representations of Black and Brown youth, as well as grown folks of color in the media. Much of J.J.’s work focuses on digging deeper into elements of culture, community, and the intergenerational healing practices that keep our distinctive spirits alive. 

After attending Tuskegee University for one year, J.J. earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at Cal State Northridge and co-founded the Los Angeles-based production company HRDWRKER. Through HRDWRKER, J.J. and the small but mighty team worked to develop a range of intentional content for entities like The California African American Museum, ARRAY, Studio Museum in Harlem, and more. 

Her black curatorial-focused project, Positive Space, was labeled groundbreaking by Shonda Rhimes’ digital platform, Shondaland, on which it now streams. Her tenderhearted spot celebrating the C.R.O.W.N ACT entitled Own Your Crown was spotlighted by various outlets such as Good Morning America and Adweek. In October of 2021, J.J. was accepted into Array's inaugural film fellowship hosted by renowned disrupter & filmmaker Haile Gerima. In 2022, J.J. directed Home / Free in collaboration with Slack, now streaming on Amazon. The short film stars John Legend and brings light to the overwhelming reentry barriers formerly incarcerated folks face regularly.

J.J.’s first feature film, Sacred Soil: The Piney Woods School Story, produced in collaboration with Andscape is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+. The project delves into the minds and worlds of a group of students at a historically Black boarding school in Mississippi while celebrating the simplicity of their brilliant existence, as well as the instution’s fortitude.

personal contact jj@directedbyjj.com

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