Julia Bacha

Julia Bacha is a Peabody and Guggenheim award-winning filmmaker, media strategist, and the Creative Director at the non-profit Just Vision. Since graduating Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University, she has strategically used documentary film and multi-media to foster constructive worldwide conversations on some of the most divisive issues of our times.

Julia started her filmmaking career in Cairo, where she wrote and edited "Control Room" (Sundance 2004), for which she was nominated to the Writer’s Guild of America Award. Subsequently, she co-directed "Encounter Point" (Tribeca 2006), which won the Audience Award at the San Francisco Film Festival, directed and produced "Budrus" (Berlinale 2009), which the New York Times called "this year's must-see documentary"; directed and produced "My Neighbourhood" (Tribeca 2012), which won a Peabody Award; directed "Naila and the Uprising" (IDFA 2017), which was broadcast on PBS in March 2019, and directed and produced 'Boycott' (SXSW 2022).

Julia's work has been exhibited at the Sundance, Berlin and Tribeca Film Festivals, broadcast on the BBC, HBO and Al Jazeera and screened at diverse settings from Palestinian refugee camps to the American Congress. She has been a guest on television shows such as Amanpour & Company and her work has been profiled in major news outlets including The Washington Post, The Economist, Der Spiegel, O Globo and Ma'an.

In addition to over twenty film festival awards, Julia is the recipient of the 2009 King Hussein Leadership Prize, 2010 Search for Common Ground Award, 2011 Ridenhour Film Prize, 2012 DocSociety Creative Impact Award, 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship, 2017 Medal of Excellence from Columbia University, and 2019 Chicken & Egg Prize. She's a documentary branch member of the American Motion Pictures Association and a regular TED speaker.