NYWIFT Blog

NYWIFT at DOC NYC: In Conversation with Joyce Pierpoline

BY Katie Chambers

Congratulations to NYWIFT Board Member Joyce Pierpoline, Executive Producer of Mediha, which just took home the U.S. Competition Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC! In this immensely collaborative film, a Yazidi teen once held captive by ISIS takes us into her world of grief, pain, and hope.

The DOC NYC juror’s statement reads: “Mediha is a person and a film that you will think about long after it ends. Hasan Oswald’s portrait of Mediha, one of many women and children survivors of the ISIS-orchestrated genocide against the Yazidis, is a truly collaborative project in which Mediha tells her own harrowing story, and finds her own activist voice in the process. The film shines a light on the trauma of war and the difficult struggle to overcome it, while exploring the psychological complications of captivity of these women and children. This extremely careful and nuanced portrait of the experience of different generations of women resonated deeply with us. We are proud to give the U.S. Competition Grand Jury Prize to Mediha, and we sincerely congratulate the talent and courage of the team in bringing this story to the world.”

We spoke to Pierpoline (prior to the exciting win) about her involvement in this important film.

 

NYWIFT Board Member Joyce Pierpoline

 

Congratulations on your DOC NYC screening! What does inclusion in the festival mean to you?

It is an honor to have our world premiere in competition at DOC NYC. We are thrilled to be presenting it in our hometown. Jaie [Laplante, DOC NYC Artistic Director] and his team have championed the film since the beginning. 

Their support, along with Human Rights Watch, provides a spotlight on such an extraordinary young woman’s courage dealing with trauma. Mediha has just arrived in New York for the first time making this a very special event indeed. 

 

How did you get involved in Mediha? What drew you to this project?

I met the director [Hasan Oswald] in Cannes a couple of years ago through a mutual friend. Hasan told me about the project and I was very intrigued. Once I saw some of the footage, I was completely drawn into this incredibly vital and powerful story of Mediha. 

 

This story is told in a very non-traditional way – rather than a succession of sit-down interviews with witnesses and experts, much of the footage comes from the subject herself. Please tell us more about that.

The film is a true collaboration between the director, Hasan, and Mediha. He gave Mediha her own camera so she can tell her own story, giving her agency. She is able to express herself more freely about her own experience and it allows us to see her world through her eyes. 

 

Still from Mediha

 

What was the most surprising moment for you during this process? 

Watching the story change and evolve during the edit is the most exciting process to be a part of, hands down!

 

What was your favorite moment? And your biggest challenge?  

Mediha is such a brave person.  One of the most exciting moments is when Mediha identifies her captor. Now, can and will that person ever be brought to justice? 

 

I saw your great news that Academy Award-winner Emma Thompson has signed on as an Executive Producer as well – congratulations! How did that collaboration come about? 

Emma Thompson saw a video Hasan did about refugees many years ago and emailed words of support. Over the next few years, they became friends and she has been a mentor to him ever since. 

 

The film is so (unfortunately) timely when there is so much cultural and ethnically driven violence in the world right now. How do you feel the film speaks to this moment in time? 

The film is extremely relevant today. Though our film addresses the plight of the Yazidis, it also speaks to human rights atrocities that are happening every day around the globe but do not always get the media attention they deserve. 

 

Mira Nimri (Royal Film Commission – Jordan) and Joyce Pierpoline (NYWIFT Board Member) at NYWIFT’s panel at Cannes 2023

 

What do you hope audiences will take away from the film? 

I want people to have a feeling of hope. Mediha is an incredible young woman and a testament to the resilience, strength and courage of women who learn to survive in the face of adversity. 

 

What’s next for you? 

This is the first documentary I have worked on, and it has been a wonderful experience so I hope to continue. 

 

Joyce Pierpoline is an award-winning producer and founder of Pierpoline Films based in New York and Paris, France. Her most recent film, The Listener, starring Tessa Thompson and directed by Steve Buscemi, premiered at the Venice Film Festival this year; other films include The Transfiguration (Cannes Film Festival); Sundance award-winning cult favorite Teeth, considered one of the top 10 political horror films of all time; Happy Tears, Angelica, and the multi-award-winning first film by Neil Labute, In the Company of Men. She is board secretary of NYWIFT and serves on the board of BAFTA-North American where she is Chair of the Film Committee. She is also a member of the European Producers Club, the European Film Academy, and the Producers Guild of America where she is co-founder of the Women’s Impact Network, promoting gender equality in the industry.

Connect with Joyce Pierpoline at her website, pierpolinefilms.com and learn more about the film at www.medihafilm.com.

Read about the rest of the NYWIFT Members at DOC NYC 2023!

PUBLISHED BY

Katie Chambers

Katie Chambers Katie Chambers is the Senior Director of Community & Public Relations at New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT). She also serves as the Communications Chair of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs and is a freelance writer, copyeditor, and digital marketing strategist. Follow her @KatieGChambers.

View all posts by Katie Chambers

1 Comment

Related Posts

NYWIFT at DOC NYC: In Conversation with Amy Nicholson

Finding your tribe is one of life’s greatest pleasures—and losing it is one of the greatest sorrows. In NYWIFT Member Amy Nicholson’s beautifully observed film Happy Campers, working-class Americans gather every summer at a seaside trailer park in Chincoteague, Virginia, to enjoy the simple pleasures of a scrappy, no-frills vacationland, and each other’s company. When a developer buys the land and reimagines the property, the inhabitants of this shabby Shangri-La wistfully eke out the joys of one last summer together as a melancholic twilight hangs in the air. Happy Campers just made its world premiere at DOC NYC, where it received a Special Mention for the Grand Jury Prize. Amy spoke to us about her unique process making this film, biggest challenges and triumphs, and the commodification of some of life’s simplest pleasures.

READ MORE

NYWIFT at DOC NYC: In Conversation with Elivia Shaw

NYWIFT Member Elivia Shaw is a producer and co-editor of the fascinating new documentary How to Have an American Baby, which just make its New York Premiere at DOC NYC 2023. The film is a a nuanced, behind-the-scenes look into the booming shadow economy catering to pregnant Chinese tourists who travel to America to give birth in order to obtain U.S. citizenship for their babies. Told through a series of observational vignettes, and with extraordinary access to the maternity hotel industry and their clients, the film outlines the invisible contours of the underground birth tourism industry and its unexpected actors in the U.S. and China, while probing deeply into the lives of several protagonists caught up in the phenomenon. What results is an intimate and compassionate portrait of women’s reproductive journeys, family, traditions, and capitalist desires.  Shaw spoke to us about her collaboration with director Leslie Tai and the unique joys and challenges of the project.

READ MORE

NYWIFT at DOC NYC: In Conversation with Emily Sheskin

NYWIFT Member Emily Sheskin’s return to DOC NYC 2023 is particularly meaningful. In 2017, she attended the festival with her short film Girl Boxer, about a 10-year-old champion female boxer and her adoring father. Six years later, Sheskin returns with a feature-length film following the same family, now facing an entirely new set of challenges. In Jesszilla, New Jersey’s own Jesselyn Silva, a three-time national boxing champion, is on her way to superstardom, dominating the junior ranks at the age of 15. With her every step of the way is her father, Pedro, a single parent who helps her navigate coaches, training schedules, and the angst of teenage life. When a devastating diagnosis threatens the father-daughter tandem, the pair turn to each other to fight their greatest opponent yet: cancer. Director and Executive Producer Emily Sheskin spoke to us about her unique journey following this family.

READ MORE

NYWIFT at DOC NYC: In Conversation with Ilja Willems

NYWIFT member Ilja Willems heads to the 2023 DOC NYC Festival with not one but two exciting new short films. Friendly Fridges shows how the new heart of the community is popping up in every neighborhood—in the shape of refrigerators. And When the grass must go follows a landscaper from Nevada who is removing grass lawns under a first-of-a-kind state law that will save water during an ongoing drought. Willems spoke to us about how these two disparate films align with her creative sensibilities, the joy of screening in NYC, and more!

READ MORE
JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER
css.php