Gabriella Canal (she/her) is a documentary filmmaker and journalist living in Brooklyn. Inspired by her upbringing in a Colombian-American household, she produces character-driven stories rooted in identity and belonging with a focus on women’s voices. She also loves highlighting the efforts of those working to improve human lives and protect the environment. Her independent work as a director, DP and editor has won a Student Academy Award, and been published in and featured by The New Yorker, The Video Consortium, New York Women in Film and Television and the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. She has directed or produced short branded documentary work for The Atlantic Re:think, The Nature Conservancy, Stripe, among others. One of those, a documentary series she directed on criminal justice data for non-profit Measures For Justice was Webby-nominated this year. Another won two Anthem Awards within the same year. In 2022, she became a Pulitzer Center Fellow and an adjunct professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. She is looking to grow as a director and DP, expanding on her work of sensitive, vérité-led documentaries.

 

For as long as she can remember, she’s been her family’s archivist. At countless dinner tables, she’s drawn inspiration from their complex histories in Spanish and English, making sense of her own identity. She loves that she can share a love of art and story with them, and for those reasons will plug her brother here who’s an emerging film composer.