EXCLUSIVE: The documentary Mourning In Lod , set in a town where Israelis and
Palestinians live side by side, could not be timelier. The
MTV Documentary Films release directed by Hilla Medalia and executive produced by doc legend Sheila Nevins opens in
New York and
Los Angeles on April 19. It becomes available for streaming on May 17 on the Paramount+ With Showtime Plan. We have your first look at the film in the
trailer above. “Medalia’s powerfully resonant film follows the fates of three
Israeli and Palestinian families intertwined by an intense cycle of violence in the ‘mixed’ Arab-Jewish city of Lod,” notes a release about the documentary. “In depicting the complex mixture of anger, grief, love and forgiveness that unfolds, the film both gives voice to the pain and loss of victims of the conflict and dares to imagine a brighter dawn for the region, founded in reconciliation and hope.” MTV Documentary Films Nevins, recently Oscar-nominated for The ABCs of Book Banning , said in a statement, “At a time when the world cries for peace, Hilla Medalia’s film pleads for reconciliation through a timeless and true story of murder, revenge, and merciful forgiveness.” Medalia, a Peabody Award winner and four-time Emmy nominee, has explored the region in previous documentaries, including Dancing in Jaffa (2013), To Die in
JERUSALEM (2007), and Jerusalem ER (2012). Writing in Haaretz, Shani Litman wrote, “There is a Jewish-Arab shared destiny, but that doesn’t alleviate the pain on either side… [Medalia] documents with great sensitivity this difficult story, which is far from being over. The film emphasizes that although men are mostly the ones who pay for the violent situation with their lives,
Women are the ones who are left behind to pick up the pieces.” Mourning in Lod premiered at the DocAviv Film Festival in Tel Aviv and went on to screen at the Hamptons International Film Festival and the Watch Docs Film Festival in Poland. Medalia directed and produced the film. The executive producers are Nina L. Diaz, Liza Burnett Fefferman and Nevins. Cinematography is by Hanna Abu Saada and Avner Shahaf; the film is edited by Doron Djerassi and Erez Laufer. The score is composed by Haim Frank Ilfman. Watch the trailer for Mourning in Lod above.