The Mill City Times Interview: Jesse Roesler, Local Emmy and James Beard Award-winning Filmmaker

Article by Becky Fillinger, photos provided by Jesse Roesler

Jesse Roesler is an Emmy and James Beard award-winning filmmaker whose work has moved millions via SXSW, The Travel Channel and The New York Times. His debut feature film The Starfish Throwers was named “The Most Heartwarming Film of the Year” in 2015 by The Huffington Post. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and two sons where he is Principal and Creative Director at the creative content studio Credo Nonfiction. We talked to him recently about his current projects and earliest inspirations.

Q:  Your company has been nominated for a 2020 James Beard Foundation Award. Congratulations! Can you tell us about the project? Is this your first James Beard award?

A:  Thank you! The project is called The Taste of Place, which celebrates the concept of terroir, which people often talk about with wine, but we are looking at food through that same lens. How do things like geography, climate and cultural traditions come together to create some of the most distinctive and delicious flavors on Earth? Which ones are in danger of disappearing and how can we protect them? In particular, the first episode of this series about Wild Rice received the nomination. This would be our second James Beard Award if we win. We received the award for Best Documentary in 2016 for our feature length film, The Starfish Throwers, which we’ve actually made free to stream on VIMEO during the pandemic. Here’s that link: https://vimeo.com/73092552. 

Jesse RoeslerQ:  Was this project for a client? Or an original work by Credo Nonfiction?

A:  This was an original work that began as we were launching Credo Nonfiction a few years back. It was a passion project for me personally that I was able to fund primarily with a McKnight Foundation Fellowship.

We have three more episodes nearing completion (that were filmed in Ecuador, Spain and the Faroe Islands) and are working on finding a distributor to help release those to the largest possible audience very soon. Here is the link to the series trailer. 

Q:  Who inspires or inspired you to be a storyteller?

A:  I got inspired early on to go into film from the works of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amelie in particular. And my love for non-fiction comes from the great literary journalists like Joseph Mitchell and food writers like M.F.K. Fisher. I was also a huge fan of Charles Kuralt in journalism school. I love character-driven stories about people who have remained authentic and true to their sometimes-eccentric vision in an increasingly inauthentic and homogenized world. I also think storytelling and filmmaking’s highest function is to inspire others to return to their own unique potential (not what society tells them to be), which I believe in turn makes the world a more authentic, inspired place. These are the heroes of the stories I want to tell. 

Q:  Many of your films have focused on food or feeding those in need. How did you become interested in these topics?

A:  To me, food is this amazing container for so much of what interests me: history, anthropology, cultural studies and not to mention on the surface level, it’s a feast for all our senses! It’s an art form that tantalizes sight, smell, taste, touch, even sound (think of cracking into a crusty baguette). Food is also love and compassion - which are the themes we explore in The Starfish Throwers. I often show my affection through cooking for someone I love, and it can also be a form of therapy for the one doing the cooking. If I’m having a down day (as so many of us have recently), getting lost in knife work, building a fire, combining multiple ingredients to create what feels like alchemy - this brings me to a flow state and any troubles or negative thoughts I’d been having kind of melt away.

Q:  Did you grow up in Minnesota?

A:  I grew up next door in North Central Wisconsin in a town called Wausau. I came to the University of Minnesota and fell in love with the cities and remained a Minnesotan after graduating from the School of Journalism. 

Q:  What is your earliest food memory? Earliest memory of wanting to be a journalist?

A:  Shucking and eating freshly picked corn on the cob from the garden. Earliest memory of wanting to be a journalist: Seeing a rather poetic Charles Kuralt On The Road segment* about a man who still carved his own canoes by hand and realizing journalism could be an art from - and a cinematic one at that.

The Wild Harvest is a new foraging & cooking series.

Q:  Who is your customer?  

A:  We serve a broad range of brands, non-profits and publishers at Credo Nonfiction, but our sweet spot is creating non-fiction, story-driven content for brands who are self-publishing. We also have a specialty and wealth of experience in the food and outdoor lifestyle categories. We’re often working with marketers, advertisers, PR and communications professionals to craft stories that build emotional connections through first-person narratives - be it in video/film, audio or written/photo stories.

Q:  Do you script your films as well as direct and shoot them?

A:  We do script them, but this is often something we call “Scripted/Unscripted” since we work a lot with real people in the documentary space. We draft story outlines that contain key messages and structure but then draft questions that will allow our subjects to answer questions in their own words for maximum authenticity.

Q:  How do you find new business?

A:  We’ve been fortunate to have been recommended by many past and current clients to new ones. Beyond that we create a wealth of thought leadership content to help our prospective partners. The biggest example of this is our podcast Content That Moves in which I interview leaders in brand storytelling from some really amazing brands like REI, 3M and Hilton among others. Links to the podcast episodes can be found on our website or directly in Apple Podcasts.

Q:  How do you reinvigorate yourself if you feel stuck or unmotivated on a project?

A:  It’s funny. Sometimes the most seemingly unglamorous projects allow for the most creativity. How do you show people something they’ve seen hundreds of times before in a completely new way? This is a question we ask ourselves a lot. We also look to other art forms - painting, literature, great music for inspiration in our work.

Q:  What will you tell your two sons about choosing a career?

A:  I’ll tell them to pursue whatever lights the biggest fire in their belly and if they do that, the money will follow. It’s a simple phrase that’s become a bit of a cliché but I still think Joseph Campbell may have said it best when he said, “Follow your bliss.” In fact, I often refer to this passage of his to help keep me on my path:

“Are you going to go on the creative soul’s quest or are you going to pursue the life that only gives you security? Are you going to follow the star of your zeal of your own enthusiasm? Are you going to live the myth or is the myth going to live you?”

*Shared link is to a CBS news ‘look back’ at the earlier Kuralt report.

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About Becky Fillinger

I’ve been a resident of the Mill District only since July 2019, but have visited the Guthrie, the Farmers Market, restaurants and friends in the area for many years prior to making the leap to Minneapolis. I’ve lived in many places (and climates) in the US and can testify that our cultural events, bicycle and hiking trails, parks and green spaces, museums, diverse neighborhoods and wonderful restaurants put Minnesota and Minneapolis high on my best places list. I’m a member of the Mill City Singers and look forward to our choir practices and performances.

One of my main interests is community - a very broad concept. For me it means bringing people together with common interests to form meaningful relationships. I look forward to reporting on businesses and individuals in our neighborhoods. Feel free to drop me an email at becky_fillinger@hotmail.com with your thoughts and ideas for stories.