Hemal Trivedi is an Indian
documentary film
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...
director, editor and producer. She is best known for her work on the documentaries ''Shabeena's Quest'', and ''
Among the Believers''.
Life and career
Hemal was born and raised in
Maharashtra
Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...
, India. She holds an MBA in Marketing from
SVKM's NMIMS
Shri Vile Parle Kelavani Mandal's Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (abbreviated as SVKM's NMIMS) is a private deemed university located in Mumbai. It has 17 constituent schools that offer both undergraduate and postgraduate courses ...
and an MFA from the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...
.
Hemal Trivedi (India/U.S.) has been editing and directing documentary films for 20 years. Her entire body of work has won one Oscar, three Emmys, one Peabody and seven Emmy nominations, a nomination for MTV Movie Awards, nominations for Independent Spirits Awards and Cinema Eye Award. Netflix, HBO, PBS (Frontline and Independent Lens), YouTube Red, Showtime, BBC, Topic and Channel 4 have broadcast her work. Her films have screened in prestigious festivals like Sundance, TIFF, Tribeca, IDFA, CPH-DOX, Telluride, IFFI Goa, Berlin Film Festival.
She is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Television Academy. She was recently selected as a participant in the “Television Academy’s Peer Circle Program", a small group of 12 Emmy winning filmmakers who meet monthly to grow their skills professionally. She has served as a speaker, mentor, panelist and judge for TEDx, Independent Film Week, the Emmys, Oscars and other prestigious awarding bodies.
In 2015, Hemal co-directed the feature documentary, ''
Among the Believers'', along with
Mohammed Ali Naqvi
Mohammed Ali Naqvi (; born 1979) is a Pakistani filmmaker based in New York City. He is known for documentaries which shed light on the socio political conditions of Pakistan, and feature strong characters on personal journeys of self-discovery. N ...
, which premiered at the
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
. The
Central Board of Film Censors (CFBC) banned, ''Among the Believers'', from being screened in Pakistan, giving the reason that it "projects the negative image of Pakistan in the context of ongoing fight against extremism terrorism." Both Hemal and co-director Mohammed Ali Naqvi received death threats after the release of the film, forcing them to go into hiding for a period of time.
In 2020, Hemal directed, ''Battleground'', about current political divide, as seen through the eyes of two grassroots political leaders in the key pivot county of Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, and aired nationally on
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
.
She started her filmmaking career at Odyssey Networks where she made short films
focussed on building bridges of understanding in conflict zones around the world. She’s
made films on Haiti, Sudan, Nigeria, covered the Arab Spring coupled with the rise of ISIS
and across America covering topics from race based gentrification to politics of hunger.
Soon she got her first break in long form documentaries when she edited an HBO
documentary Saving Face. The film won an Academy Award and Hemal won her first Emmy
for Outstanding Editing. Hemal directed her first film in Pakistan as well. Her film, Among the
Believers, on a radical mosque - The Red Mosque - and Pakistan’s internal struggle against
religious extremism, premiered at Tribeca and traveled the world. It won 22 prominent
awards and an Emmy, Independent Spirit, Cinema Eye and UNESCO Fellini nomination.
Hemal’s other key credits are: Philly DA, Battleground, Watergate, This is Everything: Gigi
Gorgeous, Among the Believers, Inshallah Democracy, Outlawed in Pakistan, Saving Face,
and When the Drum is Beating.
Hemal was born and raised in an inner-city chawl (the ghetto) of Mumbai, India, Hemal
spent her formative years striving to climb the social ladder. She did odd jobs ranging from
working as a concierge in Mumbai's five-star hotels, to a lab technician in a microbiology
lab. With the help of a state scholarship, Hemal entered one of India's most prestigious
business schools in India (NMIMS) and got her MBA in Marketing. She worked in mutual
funds in India before moving to the U.S. to pursue her passion for non-fiction storytelling.
She has a master’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from University of
Florida.
Filmography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Trivedi, Hemal
Living people
Indian film editors
Indian women film editors
Indian women film directors
Indian documentary film directors
Film directors from Mumbai
Indian women documentary filmmakers
Year of birth missing (living people)