Understory Docs is a project led by Jordana Rubenstein-Edberg, a filmmaker, educator and community engaged artist. She holds a double degree in Human Rights Journalism and Theater from Bard College, where she co-organized an arts education program in the West Bank. She also holds an MFA Social Practice degree from the Corcoran School of Art in DC, a unique program that combines art and public policy. She was a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship where she studied visual storytelling practices in Central and South America, the Docs-in-Progress Film Fellowship, and the Union Docs Collaborative Film fellowship, among others.

 

Jordana has worked at a number of non-profit, gallery and film organizations including: Just Vision Media, the National Geographic Society (DC), Monument Lab (PA), Steps to End Family Violence (NYC), Artists Striving to End Poverty (NYC), and the Nashman Center for Civic Engagement (DC). Her films and visual art work have been showcased at Transformer Gallery (DC), Art Basel (Miami), and the Corcoran Gallery (DC).

 

She recently finished directing and producing DC's Heartbeat, a film explores what it means to create an accessible art space in Washington DC. Through the story of the Carter Barron Amphitheater, a 4,000-seat performance space in Rock Creek Park, the film examines how the city's immense development in recent decades impacts DC’s unique art and music scene; notably, the increasing challenges for artists and long-time residents of color living and working in this DC.