Ilana Lapid is a Filmmaker, Writer and Educator interested in telling stories that put a human face on global conflicts. She is an Associate Professor at the Creative Media Institute at New Mexico State University. She has a BA from Yale and an MFA from the University of Southern California in Film Production. She received a Fulbright in Romania to work with visual stories of Roma children, and was an Artist in Residence at the Slifka Center at Yale. Lapid has directed multiple award-winning short films, including “Red Mesa,” “La Catrina,” and "Yochi."

In 2013 and 2014, she co-taught a documentary filmmaking course in the jungle in Belize, which inspired her to write and direct "Yochi," a narrative film that deals with poaching. “Yochi” was Oscar qualified by ShortsTV in 2017, and won Best Film at the 2018 Universal Film Festival. Her team is working with multiple environmental NGOs, including Defenders of Wildlife, Environment For the Americas, and others, to use "Yochi" for conservation education. “Yochi” has been subtitled into Spanish, French, Arabic and Portuguese, and gone on screening tours in multiple countries, including Belize and Tunisia. She is one of the six founding members of Femme Frontera, a collective of women Filmmakers from both sides of the US-Mexico border.

Read more about Ilana here!