Bess Kargman

Bess Kargman is an American filmmaker and director. She directed the documentary films First Position and Diane Warren: Relentless (2025). She also created the 2020 documentary series Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women’s Gymnastics.

Early life Kargman grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts with two siblings, Harry and Sophie. She studied at Boston Ballet for almost a decade and attended the Shady Hill School. She stopped ballet and began playing competitive sports including tennis, soccer, skiing and ice hockey. She attended high school at Concord Academy in Concord, Massachusetts before studying fine arts and playing varsity ice hockey at Amherst College. She earned a Masters in Science from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism in 2008.

Career After graduating from Amherst, Kargman moved to New York City, where she earned her real estate license and took night classes in op-ed writing. In 2006, she published her first op-ed in The Washington Post and later enrolled in Columbia University School of Journalism, where she earned a concentration in documentary and new media studies. First Position was a hit among film critics, at film festivals, and with audiences, and it has won various awards, including both the Audience Award and Best New Director at the Portland International Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Dallas International Film Festival, and the Jury Prize at the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival. 93% of critical reviews were positive according to review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

In 2013, Kargman directed and edited an ESPN Films documentary short COACH about legendary Rutgers University women's basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer as a part of ESPN's "Nine for IX" series, for which Whoopi Goldberg served as executive producer. COACH won Best Documentary Short at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival and received a nomination for a Sports Emmy Award.

In 2020, Kargman created a six epsisode documentary series, Defying Gravity: The Untold Story of Women’s Gymnastics, which premiered on YouTube Premium.

In 2020, Kargman was selected as a fellow for the American Film Showcase, a program for the U.S. Department of State, to represent the United States.

Kargman has directed or created documentary shorts for Teen Vogue, PBS, Major League Soccer, National Public Radio, and the NBC Olympics. She also directs commercials and creates content for companies around the world.

Awards