Jigar Mehta
Digital entrepreneur, video journalist
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Jigar is a documentary filmmaker and a journalist. He is currently a John S.
Knight Fellow at Stanford University, developing tools for collaborative journalism.
Before coming to Stanford, he worked as a video journalist for The New York
Times. He has a passion for telling stories through strong characters and
accurate reporting. He believes in collaboration and community-building, and as
president of the South Asian Journalist Association, he has fostered programs
that reflect those ideals.
Jigar received his Masters in Journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism
at the University of California, Berkeley where he studied under documentary
filmmaker Jon Else. At Berkeley, Jigar developed a passion for character-driven
stories and built the journalistic skills necessary to ensure those stories were
both interesting and authentic.
His first documentary, Playing the News, examines whether video games are a
revolutionary new way to engage young people in current events or an unethical
marketing gimmick that merely seeks to exploit war. Playing the News profiles
the first video game company to consider itself a legitimate news organization,
taking us from the company's Manhattan offices, equipped with satellite
technology, to the frontlines of the war in Iraq. It premiered at the South by
Southwest Film Festival and is now part of media study coursework.
After graduating with his Masters in Journalism from the University of California,
Berkeley, Jigar worked on Jon Else’s Wonders are Many, which premiered at
Sundance in 2007. This behind-the-scenes documentary follows composer John
Adams and director Peter Sellars over the course of a year as they work to forge
the tale of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, into a music
drama like no other: the strange and beautiful opera “Doctor Atomic.”
Jigar then shifted gears, going from the big screen to the online screen by joining
The New York Times in their newly minted video unit as a video journalist. The in-
house unit produced micro-documentaries for the website. Jigar was influential in
pushing the boundaries of the form. He regularly teamed up with the multimedia
team to produce stories that could only be uniquely told using video and the web
and he contributed to multimedia pieces such as the Simmons Flip which was
nominated for a News and Documentary Emmy for New Approaches.
His first transmedia project was for reporter David Carr’s memoir, The Night of
the Gun. The website provided documentary evidence for the user to explore
from the author’s past. It was based on a three-year fact-finding mission to revisit
Carr’s harrowing past as a drug addict and discovery that the search for answers
can reveal many versions of the truth.
Jigar currently splits his time between New York, Cairo and Silicon Valley.
EDUCATION
University of California, Berkeley • 2005
Masters in Journalism, Documentary Emphasis
University of California, Berkeley • 2001
B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering
John S. Knight Fellow, Stanford University • July 2010 – June 2011
Journalism Fellow
EMPLOYMENT
The New York Times, New York, NY • August 2006 – July 2010
Video Journalist
Actual Films, San Francisco, CA • June 2005 – July 2006
Technical Director on Wonders are Many
SELECTED NEW MEDIA PROJECTS
The Night of the Gun, Director of Documentary content | August 2008
Companion website produced for New York Times reporter David Carr’s
memoir based on three-year fact-finding mission to revisit his harrowing
past as a drug addict and discovery that the search for answers can
reveal many versions of the truth. www.nightofthegun.com
NYTimes.com: The Austerity Zone, Producer/Reporter | August 2010
Europe's debt crisis and an unresponsive economy have left a profound
mark, as a loss of job security and government cutbacks have changed
the prospects of many Europeans. In five countries, business owners,
workers, retirees, talk about how the economic upheaval has changed
their circumstances and their outlook. nyti.ms/eurojigar
SELECTED FILMS
Wonders are Many, Technical Director & Additional Camera
Premiere: Sundance Film Festival 2007
This behind-the-scenes documentary follows composer John Adams and
director Peter Sellars over the course of a year as they work to forge the
tale of J. Robert Oppenheimer into a music drama like no other: the
strange and beautiful opera “Doctor Atomic.”
Playing the News, Co-director, Director of Photography
Premiere: SXSW Film Festival 2006
Playing the News is a provocative examination of whether video games
are a revolutionary new way to engage young people in current events or
an unethical marketing gimmick that merely seeks to exploit war.
My Flesh and Blood, Additional Camera & Field Producer
Premiere: Sundance Film Festival 2003
Susan Tom of Fairfield, CA, is not a typical single mother -- Tom is the
head of a family of 11 adopted children, all of whom are physically
challenged or living with long-term illnesses. A tumultuous year as it
confronts a litany of daily routines, celebrates life’s small pleasures, and
copes with major crises.
