To Die in Jerusalem: Documentary Film and Discussion

 
06 Apr 2010
 
7:00 PM
 
Sun Room, Memorial Union

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After two seventeen-year old girls - one an Israeli, the other a Palestinian suicide bomber - die in a Jerusalem market, their mothers confront each other, revealing a microcosm of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the complexity of reconciliation. Through the personal stories of the two families' losses and by contrasting the lives and deaths of these two teenage girls, To Die in Jerusalem offers a personal human perspective that is often eclipsed by the political issues. Hilla Medalia, an Israeli student and first-time filmmaker, was looking for a topic to fulfill her master's degree at Southern Illinois University, when she set out to make what became a Peabody Award-winning HBO documentary. Since then she has helped produce the documentary 39 Pounds Of Love and is currently working on After the Storm, about a group of New York Broadway actors who were inspired to help the youth of New Orleans. The 76-min documentary will be followed by a discussion.

Hilla Medalia, Director/Producer -- A Peabody Award Winner Israeli Producer and Director. After joining the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) she began her academic career in the United States where she earned a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from Southern Illinois University (2001 and 2004). She then worked in various positions including senior producer of the award-winning documentary 39 Pounds Of Love. The film won the 2005 Ofir Award ("Israeli Oscar") and was released in U.S. (Landmark) theatres in late 2005 and made it onto the Academy Award short list for best documentary film. Medalia received a 2005 Regional Emmy Award for her student documentary project Condition: John Foppe (program feature - public affairs category) and the 2004 Angelus Award for directing the student film, "Daughters of Abraham." Her first feature documentary TO DIE IN JERUSALEM, screened around the world and has garnered many prestigious awards, including the George Foster Peabody Award and 3 Emmy Award nominations. The film screened in multiple festivals around the world including the Jerusalem Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival, Fipa Biarritz, where it won a jury award. The film was broadcast in the United States as an HBO feature and has aired on television around the world including YES in Israel. Medalia is now in the filnal editing stages of her new film, After the Storm, which is a collaboration with Rosie O'Donnell and Priddy Brothers and is expected to be released early 2009.