Julia Bacha | |
---|---|
Born | 1980 (age 42–43) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Occupation | Director, Producer, Writer |
Nationality | Brazilian |
Genre | Documentary |
Notable works | Budrus, Encounter Point, Control Room |
Spouse | Lucas Welch |
Website | |
justvision |
Julia Bacha (born 1980) is a Brazilian documentary filmmaker. She has filmed under-documented stories from the Middle East including issues related to Palestine. Her 2021 film, Boycott, explores anti-boycott legislation and related freedom of speech issues.
Bacha was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. [1] When she was 17 she moved to the US to study Middle Eastern history and politics at Columbia University. She got accepted to Tehran University for a master's degree but could not acquire a visa, and instead went to Cairo to work on a documentary, Control Room. [2] In 2003, she graduated from the Columbia University School of General Studies. [3]
Bacha has filmed under documented stories from the Middle East. [3]
In 2004, she was the co-writer (with director Jehane Noujaim) and editor of Control Room , a documentary about Al Jazeera. Bacha and Noujaim received a nomination for the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay for the film. [4] Two years later, she co-directed (with Ronit Avni) the documentary Encounter Point , which was the official selection at Tribeca Film Festival, Hot Docs, Jerusalem Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival and San Francisco International Film Festivals, where it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary. Bacha directed the 2009 documentary Budrus , which was shown at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival and became runner up in the festival's documentary competition. [5] Budrus won over 18 international prizes, including the 2012 PUMA Creative.Impact Award, the $50,000 prize is given to the documentary film that had the greatest impact on society. [6]
By 2006, Bacha had become creative director at the non-profit Just Vision. [7]
In 2013, her 2012 film My Neighbourhood won the Peabody Award [8] and premiered online at The Guardian . [9] In 2014, it won a Special Mention at the Social Impact Media Awards. [10] On November 12, 2017, her film Naila and the Uprising (2017) premiered at the DOC NYC film festival. [11]
Bacha's latest feature-length documentary, Boycott , which explores anti-BDS laws and related freedom of speech issues, premiered in November 2021 at Doc NYC. [12] [13] The film tells the stories of people in three states who refused to sign a pledge to not boycott Israel as a condition for receiving state funds and contracts, deciding instead to challenge their states' anti-boycott legislation as unconstitutional. [14] [15] [16] [17] The film was funded by grants from groups including Doc Society, International Documentary Association, Fork Films and the Sundance Institute. [13]
Control Room is a 2004 documentary film directed by Jehane Noujaim, about Al Jazeera and its relations with the US Central Command (CENTCOM), as well as the other news organizations that covered the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Jehane Noujaim is an American documentary film director best known for her films Control Room, Startup.com, Pangea Day and The Square. She has co-directed The Great Hack and The Vow with Karim Amer.
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Ronit Avni is a Canadian entrepreneur, tech founder, human rights advocate, and Peabody Award-winning film director and producer.
Just Vision is a non religiously unaffiliated nonprofit organization that utilizes storytelling, media and public engagement campaigns to highlight Palestinian and Israeli grassroots leaders working to end the occupation and conflict through unarmed means. They are based in Washington, New York and Jerusalem.
Budrus is a 2009 Israeli/Palestinian/American documentary film directed by Julia Bacha, produced by Ronit Avni, Rula Salameh, and Julia Bacha, and with a screenplay by Bacha. The film is about non-violent demonstrations conducted by the residents of Budrus during the early 2000s to protest against the building of the Israeli West Bank barrier inside of the village.
Mike Lerner is a film director and producer. He has directed Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer (2013), and Klarsfeld (2022). He has produced multiple documentary films and series including Hell and Back Again (2011), Rafea: Solar Mama (2012), The Square (2013), The Departure (2017), The Great Hack (2019), The Vow (2020-22), The Meaning of Hitler (2020), F*ck this Job (2021), Flight/Risk (2022), and Defiant (2023).
Hi-Ho Mistahey! is a 2013 National Film Board of Canada feature documentary film by Alanis Obomsawin that profiles Shannen's Dream, an activist campaign first launched by Shannen Koostachin, a Cree teenager from Attawapiskat, to lobby for improved educational opportunities for First Nations youth.
Alexandra Johnes is an American documentary film producer and former actress. As a producer, Johnes is known for films including The Square, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, and Doubletime. She has worked as a Producer with various directors, including Alex Gibney, Eugene Jarecki and Jehane Noujaim. In 2013, Johnes received a Primetime Emmy Award for producing Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God. During her acting career, Johnes' film credits include starring roles as the Childlike Empress in The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter, and Phoebe in Zelly and Me, alongside Isabella Rossellini and David Lynch, as well as guest appearances on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.
Rafea: Solar Mama is an 2012 American documentary film, directed by Jehane Noujaim and Mona Eldaief. It follows Rafea, an illiterate Jordanian Bedouin as she follows her aspirations of lighting up her village by harnessing the power of solar energy by enrolling in the Barefoot College solar program in India.
Rebekah Wingert-Jabi is an American documentary film director best known for the documentary My Neighbourhood.
Julia Bell Reichert was an American Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, activist, and feminist. She was a co-founder of New Day Films. Reichert's filmmaking career spanned over 50 years as a director and producer of documentaries.
Geralyn White Dreyfous is an American film producer. She has produced multiple documentary and narrative films focusing on social justice issues including The Invisible War (2012), The Square (2013), The Hunting Ground (2015), Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018), The Great Hack (2019), and On the Record (2020). Dreyfous has been nominated for Primetime Emmy awards.
Karim Amer is an Egyptian-American film producer and director. He worked on The Square (2013) and The Great Hack (2019); the former was the first Egyptian film to earn an Academy Award nomination and went on to win three Emmy Awards, while the latter got nominated for an Emmy and a BAFTA Award. In 2020, he produced and directed The Vow, an HBO documentary series about the self-improvement group, NXIVM. In 2022, he produced and directed Flight/Risk for Amazon Studios, revolving around whistleblowers at Boeing.
The Vow is an American true crime documentary series directed by Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer that revolves around the cult NXIVM and its leader Keith Raniere. The NXIVM documentary series premiered on August 23, 2020, on HBO.
Artemis Rising Foundation is a nonprofit organization and film production and television production company, founded by Regina K. Scully.
Mohammed el-Kurd is a Palestinian writer and poet. He is currently based out of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. Prior to the 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis, he was pursuing a master's degree in the United States, but returned to protest Israel's eviction of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem. He has gained prominence for his description of Palestinians' lives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank; el-Kurd has referred to the evictions as a form of ethnic cleansing, and has also accused Israel of imposing apartheid-style laws and regulations onto Palestinians in the occupied territories.
Boycott is a documentary film about three Americans' lawsuits against their state governments in response to anti-BDS laws which caused said governments to cancel their business contracts after they refused to pledge that they would not engage in a boycott of Israel. The film is directed by Julia Bacha; it premiered in 2021.
Vikram Gandhi is an Indian American documentary filmmaker, producer, actor, and journalist. His works included Kumaré (2011), Barry (2016), Trigger Warning with Killer Mike(2019), 69: The Saga of Danny Hernandez (2020).