Josie Hess (they/them) is a non-binary writer/director from Gippsland who works across documentary, narrative and pornography.

Their work has been recognized by The Guardian, The Age,  The Feed,  ABC News, Filmmaker Magazine and Art Link among others. Josie co-directed their first feature documentary Morgana in 2019 (co-directed by Isabel Peppard) which premiered internationally at Fantasia International Film Festival, nationally at Melbourne International Film Festival and won Best Independent Documentary at the Gold Coast Film Awards and San Fran Indie Fest.

Josie’s work has made waves in the porn world, with experimental short ‘Labia of Love’ winning ‘Hottest Artful Porn Award’ at the Toronto International Porn Awards.  In 2020, they co-directed ‘All of Me’ (co-directed by Morgana Muses) a short documentary about a sex worker with cerebral palsy, which has screened around the world, including at Berlin Porn Film Festival.

In 2019 they produced short animation The Grave of Saint Oran (Dir. Jim Batt) written and narrated by Neil Gaiman which premiered at Fantasia and has screened nationally at SIFF and MIFF and as part of Flickrfests nation wide tour. 

In 2021, they were selected for Film Victoria’s Originate program.

In 2020, their next documentary project ‘Life After Coal’ was selected to take part in The Pitch Lab, an initiative by AFTRS, The Doc Society and AIDC. The project was the recipient of the philanthropic development and production grants through the Lab via the MaiTri Foundation’s Story Program.

Across 2021 and 2022 Josie was in the inaugural cohort for the Art + Impact fellowship through Doc Society.