jackson studied filmmaking at mit with famed documentarian richard leacock. in 1972 she moved back to washington dc, working first as a location sound recordist, then as a film and videotape editor on such films as "reflections on a revolution" for "bill moyers' journal", "the unquiet death of julius and ethel rosenberg" for pbs and, working with filmmaker charles guggenheim, tv campaign spots for senators frank church, fritz hollings and ted kennedy.