Hilla Medalia

A George Foster Peabody Award winning director and producer. Received 3 Emmy Award nominations and won the Paris Human Rights Film Festival Jury Award, Fipa Biarritz Jury Award, Golden Warsaw Phoenix Award, Faito Doc Grand Jury Award, and more. Hilla directed and produced the documentary After the Storm, a film about a group of New York Broadway actors who travel to New Orleans to offer the remedy of art and expression to thirteen kids in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Together, they transform a storm-wrecked community center into a theatre, erecting a beacon of hope and purpose in the midst of devastation and despair. The film aired on MTV, broadcasted on Ch8 Israel, participated in film festivals around the world, and won the Audience Award at the Woodstock Film Festival and Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival. Hilla directed and produced To Die in Jerusalem, a story about a Palestinian suicide bomber and her unlikely Israeli doppelgänger, who died at only 17 years of age in a Jerusalem market. The film unveils a microcosm for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and explores the complexity of reconciliation. It was broadcasted in the United States on HBO and aired on television around the world, including YES in Israel, RAI in Italy, M6 in France, NHK in Japan, and numerous others. Hilla was a senior producer for 39 Pounds of Love (a 2005 HBO and Cinemax film); it won the Ofir Award (Israeli Oscar) and shortlisted for an Academy Award. Other titles include Happy You’re Alive (Ch1 Israel), Caught In The Net (Impact Partners, Tribeca Gucci, Chicken & Egg, YES Israel), which is now in production, and Dancing In Jaffa, in post-production. Hilla has a Master’s Degree in Film and Television from Southern Illinois University.