"The Future Is..." is a mini-series all about Columbia alumnae who are the leaders of today and creators of tomorrow. This podcast is produced by Shanna Crumley '18SIPA and the Columbia Alumni Association.
When seventeen-year-old Julia Bacha '03GS arrived at Columbia, she had no idea that she would become a filmmaker, much less one far away in the Middle East. Yet that's how Bacha works best: by following her instincts. That journalistic instinct is what led her on a journey from studying Middle Eastern history at Columbia to advocating for justice as an award-winning documentary filmmaker.
Bacha has served 12 years as the creative director at Just Vision, a nonprofit that documents the work of Israelis and Palestinians using nonviolent resistance to the occupation to bring freedom, dignity, and equality to both societies. As part of her advocacy, she has also given two TED talks about women and nonviolence in conflict and shown her work at the Sundance, Berlin, and Tribeca film festivals.
Bacha's work has been profiled by BBC, HBO, Al Jazeera, The Washington Post, and The Economist, and screened at widely diverse settings, from Palestinian refugee camps and villages to the halls of the American Congress and European Parliament. Her TED talk, "Pay Attention to Nonviolence," was selected as one of the best talks of 2011 by TED curators and has been viewed by over half a million people.
Photo credit: Just Vision
