Hemal Trivedi has been producing and directing documentaries for over 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.  She has won over 30 other prestigious awards and honors. Her work has been showcased in film festivals including Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, Full Frame, Berlin Film Festival and AFI and venues including the United Nations and US Department of State.  Her work has been broadcast on Netflix, HBO, PBS (Frontline and Independent Lens), YouTube Red, Topic, Channel 4 and several other broadcast venues.  She has served as a speaker, panelist and judge for TEDx, Independent Film Week, the Emmys and other prestigious awarding bodies.  

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.

Hemal Trivedi's Filmography

• Editor, Believers -- Paramount Disney Plus series on African American hip hop artist and cult leader.

• Editor, Producer, Citizen of Moria -- A look at the struggles of an Afghan refugee in Moria refugee camp. Various film festivals.

• Editor, Producer, In Search of my Sister -- When Uyghur rights activist Rushan Abbas' sister goes missing, she rallies Uyghurs from around the world and draws global media attention to the plight of Uyghurs in China, as she tries to find the truth behind her sister's disappearance. 

• Consulting editor, Call me Dancer -- Follows a young, talented street dancer from Mumbai whose parents' insistence is that he follow a traditional path. While he is determined to be a professional dancer, the odds are stacked against him.

• Editor, Philly-D.A. -- the series explores controversial DA of Phiadelphia, Larry Krasner, and his battle with the system at large.  Sundance (2021), Berlin (2021), Independent Lens, Topic studios.  Winner Gotham Award, 2021 and nominated for IDA Award.

• Producer, Director, Editor, Battleground -- the film explores ideological conflicts in American politics from the lens of the Battleground state of Pennsylvania.  PBS-World released in 2020.

• Editor, Watergate Or: How We Learned to Stop an Out-of-control President.  Directed by Academy Award filmmaker Charles Fergusson, Shown at NYFF, Berlin and Telluride, History Channel.

• Editor, Inshallah Democracy - profiling former Pakistani Dictator General Pervez Musharraf, Sheffield, 2017. Directed by Mohammed Ali Naqvi.

• Consulting Editor, Ganden: A Joyful Land -- The film is a revealing, intimate look at the lives and remembrances of the last remaining generation of monks to have studied at the renowned monastery in Tibet where the Dalai Lama’s lineage began.  Directed by Ngawang Choephel.  DOC NYC, World Channel.

• Consulting Editor, Ask the Sexpert - A film centered on a long time sex advice columnist, Dr. Mahinder Watsa. HotDocs, Sheffield, 2017. Directed by Vaishali Sinha.

• Producer, Director, Editor, My Big Bollywood Wedding. A Smithsonian TV special on Indian weddings in the US.

• Editor, This is Everything - Gigi Gorgeous. A Youtube Red original, profiles transgender celebrity Gigi Gorgeous. Sundance, 2017, nominated for MTV Movie Awards. Directed by two-time Academy Award filmmaker Barbara Kopple.

• Producer, Director, Editor, Among the Believers. Over 50 film festivals worldwide, 33 awards, Cinema Eye and Independent Spirits Award nomination, distributed by First Run Features, PBS, Netflix. Shown in United Nations and Department of State - acclaimed worldwide as one of the most important pieces of journalism on modern day Pakistan and the larger Muslim world's internal battle against extremism.

• Editor, Outlawed in Pakistan. Emmy 2014, two Emmy nominations, PBS Frontline, Sundance. Directed by Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann.

• Editor, Saving Face. Oscar 2012, Two Emmys 2013, five Emmy nominations, HBO/Channel 4. Directed by Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy.

• Producer, Director, Editor, Shabeena’s Quest. Witness, Al Jazeera.

• Editor, When the Drum is Beating Tribeca 2011, Independent Lens. Directed by Whitney Dow.

• Producer, Director, Editor Beyond Mumbai. Produced by Odyssey Networks, Webby nomination and five other prominent awards.

• Editor, Associate Producer. Flying on One Engine (SXSW, IDFA). Directed by Joshua Weinstein.

• Editor, Laughter. Directed by Neil Davenport.

Hemal used to work for Odyssey Networks -- a non-profit that used media to create bridges of understanding between various conflict groups.  As a producer / editor there she oversaw production of over 50 shorts.   A lot of them won prominent awards such as the Webby Award.  Some of her shorts while at Odyssey are:  Voices of Sudan, Haiti: Hope and Healing, Beyond Mumbai, Politics of Hunger, Beyond 9/11, I am a Muslim Too, etc.