Together, Not Alone

Gabriella Canal is a documentary filmmaker and journalist based in Brooklyn. Inspired by her upbringing in a Colombian-American household, she produces stories rooted in identity and belonging with a focus on women’s voices. Her independent work as a director, DP and editor has been featured by The New Yorker, The Pulitzer Center and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. Her latest short documentary, "Seasons", about a matriarchal Korean family farm in New Jersey won a Student Academy Award. Her previous short documentary, “No Man’s Land,” about a lesbian separatist community in the rural American south, had its New York premiere at DOC NYC, and received the Audience Award for Best Short Film at The Florida Film Festival. She is a 2022 Pulitzer Center Fellow and an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

Judith Helfand: I’m best known for my ability to use a quirky sense of humor and irony, first-person storytelling chops and the power of transparency to tackle some of the most pressing issues of our time — from reproductive technology, corporate malfeasance and toxic chemical exposure to the climate crisis, the “politics of disaster” and deep grief. Three of my films premiered at Sundance and were broadcast nationally on PBS (POV, Independent Lens), HBO and The Sundance Channel. Blue Vinyl received the 2002 Sundance Excellence Award in Cinematography and two Emmy nominations and its prequel, A Healthy Baby Girl, won a 1997 Peabody Award. (I was at a public television conference the week of the awards ceremony, so my mom, who “starred” in the film, proudly accepted the Peabody on my behalf.) I’ve also produced four other long-form films — Everything’s Cool, The Uprising of ‘34 (with my first mentor, George Stoney), Cooked: Survival by Zip Code and Love & Stuff.