Lisa Gossels is an Emmy® Award-winning documentarian whose films have garnered twenty awards and honors. Her first feature documentary, “The Children of Chabannes,” made with Dean Wetherell, won a 2001 Emmy® Award, 10 film festival awards, had a limited theatrical release, aired on HBO Signature, local PBS stations and is now distributed by Docurama. “The Children of Chabannes” has been praised as “One of the most heartening Holocaust films ever made–splendid, informative and emotionally involving,” (Los Angeles Times) and called “A seamless memoir of courage and a tribute to the human spirit.” (New York Daily News)
Lisa’s second film, “My So-Called Enemy” garnered a CINE Golden Eagle and five film festival awards since premiering at Silverdocs in 2010. She was honored as “Someone to Watch” at the 2011 Cleveland International Film Festival, a “Luminary” at the Boston Jewish Film Festival’s 2011 “Luminaries and Legends Gala” and, in 2012, with the Annual Miller Reel Jewish Woman Filmmaker Award. “My So-Called Enemy,” which aired on the WORLD Channel, in the public television series Global Voices, has been cited as “A provocative, balanced film that offers unexpected hope for resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” (Washington City Paper) and “Moving, powerful, intelligent and brave.” (The Nation). Lisa travels around the country with “My So-Called Enemy,” teaching at high schools and universities and engaging youth, secular and faith communities in dialogue. She consults with documentarians on all aspects of filmmaking and storytelling, from pre-production through distribution and outreach. She also produces advocacy, promotional and educational films for clients through her New York City-based company, Good Egg Productions. A member of the Selah Leadership Network, Lisa became a documentarian because she believes in the power of film to effect social change. She has served as a Juror for the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, The Cleveland International Film Festival, The Ivy Film Festival and The Woodstock Festival – and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University.
Winning Project: My So-Called Enemy
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Spanning seven years,“My So-Called Enemy” follows six Palestinian and Israeli teenage girls committed to justice and mutual understanding after participating in a women’s leadership program called Building Bridges for Peace. This heart and mind-opening film, from Emmy® Award-winning director Lisa Gossels (THE CHILDREN OF CHABANNES), documents how the young women’s transformative experience of knowing their “enemies” as human beings in the United States meets with the realities of their lives back home in the Middle East. Through the coming-of-age narratives of Adi, Gal, Hanin, Inas, Rawan and Rezan, audiences see how creating relationships across emotional, ideological, religious and physical borders are first steps towards resolving conflict. MY SO-CALLED ENEMY presents the complexities of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict through a human lens – and the possibility and hope that come from listening to each other’s stories.
My So-Called Enemy: www.mysocalledenemy.com // www.facebook.com/mysocalledenemy
Lisa Gossels’ first film,“The Children of Chabannes”: www.childrenofchabannes.org
Filmmaker website: www.lisagossels.com