New York Film Festival 2019

[Chris Knipp]

HILA MEDALIA: MOURNING IN LOD (2023)

Eleven years ago I reviewed Dancing in Jaffa, a documentary about a dance class that brought together Arabs and Jews. Here she gets closer to the belly of the beast of Arab-Israeli conflict, following the fates of three families that are inextricably intertwined in a vicious cycle of violence in the city of Lod, Israel, where Israelis and Palestinians live side by side.

Made in partnership with MTV Documentary Films, “Mourning in Lod” revisits a painful chapter from May 2021, during the previous conflict between Israel and Hamas. As the terror group fired rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, domestic unrest between Jewish and Arab Israelis erupted in Lod.

In a February, 2024 article, "Film about deadly 2021 Arab-Jewish riots gives insight into post-Oct. 7 life in Israel, "The Times of Israel discusses Israel filmmaker Medalia's skill at getting close to Arabs and Jews alike in areas of tension as illustrated in the current film, and earlier ones.


MTV Documentary Films and Paramount+ will release the film in theaters in NY and LA on April 19 and*it will be available to stream on Paramount+ on May 17.