SHORT FILMS
Little Con Lili (2019)
Perpetually scheming 10-year-old Lili would much rather eat junk food and jam out to Air Supply than do her homework. But when her mom comes home early from work, Lili must think fast to pull off her biggest con yet.
DISTRIBUTOR: HBOMax (2019-2021). Optioned by Netflix (2021-2023)
#blessed (2024)
In Post-Production: Coming Soon
A feminist, martial-arts, neo-screwball action-comedy about a love-obsessed woman who becomes a karate master, in order to save the love of her life from getting bullied by two douchebag/ex-luchadores. (Think Coen-Bros, meets Kung Fu Hustle, dipped in gold, fuchsia, and leopard-print velour).
Made in collaboration with: Echobend Pictures, and with support from RIDEBACK RISE short film grant.
WHAT TO EXPECT (2024)
After giving birth, a mother deals with her new identity, as she navigates life with her new baby, her husband, and her loud and opinionated inter-racial family.
Made in collaboration with: Latino Public Broadcasting
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS
BERTIE THE BRILLIANT(2022)
A young boy takes on chores, and small jobs around his neighborhood, to raise money for a ticket to a magic show; but when his grandma loses her job, he is faced with a difficult decision.
Made in collaboration with: OneFifty (WarnerMedia) & Latino Public Broadcasting
DISTRIBUTOR: PBS
The 90 Day Plan (2020)
A high school student obsessed with heist movies, must convince her best friend to help her rob a bank and save her Abuela (grandma) from getting evicted.
DISTIRBUTOR: HBOMax (2020-2023)
MEDIO SUMMER POEM (2020)
A visual poem on the themes of Love, explored in Gabriela's feature film UN DREAM DE MEDIO SUMMER (in development with MACRO.
Short Films in Development...
skrrrt! (2025)
A group of high school frenemies plotting a massive car-heist, must convince an uppity salesman at a supercar dealership to let one of the girls test-drive a supercar.
STATUS: In pre-production. Shooting Nov 22-25, 2024
Financed through the Dirty Films, Netflix and Annenberg Inclusionist Proof of Concept Accelerator.
CUQUI (2025)
CUQUI is a hard-working, and over-zealous Uber driver, who goes out of her way to get 5-star reviews. But when an uptight, high-strung passenger with an attitude is late for work, will Cuqui be able to do enough to maintain her 5-star rating?
FEATURE FILMS
In Development
A 10 year-old girl, her working class mother, and estranged grifter grandmother must con their way across America, determined to find the girl’s long-lost father.
LITTLE CON LILI feature film is in development with Mandalay Pictures,
In Development
A story of youthful lovers fated, Complicated by family. A scornful drag queen, causing agony to a fairy king seeking revenge. An idiotic friend with a magic pill, that makes mortals love at will. Conflict ensues, and chaos impends; but all’s well in the end.
UN DREAM DE MEDIO SUMMER is in development with MACRO.
Script
(CASIMIRO): A desperate man will do whatever it takes, to escape the grasp of his overbearing wife, in order to attend a local fantasy role-playing tournament
(JUANITA): A scorned wife, who will go to great lengths to save her loveless marriage.
In development with Rideback Rise
Script
When a disabled Cuban-American teen learns she’s been accepted to Harvard, but can’t afford to go; she gathers a crew of high school frenemies (none of whom have passed their driver's tests), to attempt an impossible super-car heist during Art Basel, Miami.
The Athena List/Disney Development Grant - WINNER (2024)
Cate Blanchett/Dirty Films/Annenberg Inclusionist/Netflix Proof of Concept (2024)
Actively Seeking Financing...
When a love-scorned mother learns that her daughter is engaged, she will do whatever it takes to prove that love will always lead to disappointment.
TriBeCa & AT&T Untold Stories (2024) -Official Selection
NALIP Media Accelerator (2024) - Official Selection
In Development
When a hardworking Cuban-Exile realises that no matter how hard he works, he can never attain the American Dream; he puts his strong work ethic toward orchestrating one of the biggest heists in American History.
ABOUT
Gabriela Garcia Medina is a Cuban-American writer/director. Her short film LITTLE CON LILI (2019) won Best of Fest at HBO Women in Comedy Festival (2019), Best Short Contest NBC (2019), winner of LALIFF Best Short Film (2019), nominated for Best Short Comedy at Palm Springs ShortFest (2020), distributed with HBOMax (2019-2021), and later optioned by Netflix (2021-2023). Gabriela’s short film THE 90 DAY PLAN (2020), won Best of Fest at HBO Women in Comedy Festival (2020), Best Short Film – Powderkeg/Feigco Entertainment (2020), official selection PBS LatinXperience (2020), and distributed with HBOMax (2020-2023). Gabriela's short- musical comedy BERTIE THE BRILLIANT (2022) was made in collaboration with Warner Bros/OneFifty and Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB). BERTIE THE BRILLIANT premiered at the Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences as part of the NFMLA IN FOCUS: LatinX & Hispanic Cinema. It screened at OUTFEST: Fusion Family Day (2023), LA PRIDE (presented by NFMLA) (2023), PBS Shorts Film Festival (2023), Hollyshorts (2023), Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (2023), among others, and is available on PBS. Gabriela’s short film WHAT TO EXPECT (2024) was made in collaboration with Latino Public Broadcasting and will distribute with PBS (2024), and her short film #BLESSED (2024) a feminist-martial-arts action-comedy was shot through the Rideback Rise fellowship and is currently in post-production.
Gabriela’s feature film LITTLE CON LILI was selected as one of the five screenplays on the LatinX List (The Black List) 2023 and is in development with Mandalay Pictures. Gabriela’s feature screenplay SKRRRT! won The Athena List’s Disney Development Grant (2024) and was selected for Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films/Netflix Proof of Concept Accelerator (2024). Gabriela’s feature film FOR YOUR OWN GOOD was Top-five finalist for TriBeCa’s AT&T’s Untold Stories $1M (2024). Her romantic musical comedy MEDIO SUMMER is in development with MACRO. And her feature THE KIDNAPPING OF CASIMIRO CORONADO is in development through the Rideback Rise non-profit film incubator (2023-2024). Gabriela is the NFMLA 2023 Filmmaker of the Year, a Rideback Rise fellow (2023-2024). She is an Academy of Motion Picture, Arts & Sciences Film Accelerator fellow (2022), a Film Independent Directing Lab fellow (2020), and a Hedgebrook Screenwriting Lab fellow (2016). Gabriela received her BFA from UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television, with a major in Theater, and a double minor in Chicano/a Studies and African American Studies. She holds two MFA degrees from California Institute of the Arts.
Prior to being a filmmaker, Gabriela was a spoken word poet. She has performed at over 1000 colleges/universities and has opened the stage for artists including Pitbull, Mos Def, and the Black-Eyed Peas, as well as for political figures including Kamala Harris, and Maxine Waters.
Rideback Rise reveals Inaugural cohort (2023-2024)
PRESS
Rideback Rise Sets Inaugural Cohort To Develop Mainstream TV And Film Projects
Proof of Concept Announces First Class of Filmmakers (2024)
TriBeCa reveals finalists for Untold Stories
‘Little Con Lili’ Is Like a Cuban-American ‘Matilda’
Athena Film Festival Reveals 2024 Athena List Winners (Exclusive)
‘Bertie the Brilliant’ movie tells a Latino inspiring story.
Athena List Finalists: SKRRRT! by Gabriela Garcia Medina & Katherine Craft
NFMLA unveils winners of it's 11th annual Best of NFMLA Awards
NFMLA Celebrates Family Drama, Surreal Horror and Magical Fiction for Latinx and Hispanic Heritage Month
The Black List: LatinX List Finalists for 2022 unveiled!
NFMLA’s 2022 InFocus: Latinx and Hispanic Film Festival Lineup Includes ‘Pool Boy’ and ‘Bertie the Brilliant’
Film Independent 2020 Directing Lab Fellows
"Bertie the Brilliant" Presented by Latino Public Broadcasting Premieres in PBS Short Film Festival
Inside the Academy's 2022 Film Accelerator Program
10 Short Films on our Radar (2024)
CONTACT
Manager: Jairo Alvarado
Redefine Entertainment
Agent: Valarie Phillips
Verve
Attorneys: Jesse & Ryan Nord
The Nord Group