Gabriela Garcia Medina is a Cuban-American writer/director. Her short comedy LITTLE CON LILI (2019) won festival awards, distributed with HBOMax (l2019- 2021), and was = optioned by Netflix (2021-2023). Gabriela’s short THE 90 DAY PLAN (2020), won HBO Women in Comedy Festival (2020), and distributed with HBOMax (2020-2023). Gabriela's musical comedy BERTIE THE BRILLIANT (2023) was made in collaboration with WarnerMedia and Latino Public Broadcasting. It won Gabriela the NFMLA Director of the Year (2023), and the film distributed with PBS. (2023-present). Gabriela’s dark- comedy film WHAT TO EXPECT (almost entirely shot in a oner), was made in collaboration with Latino Public Broadcasting and will distribute with PBS (2025). Her heist-action, short comedy, SKRRRT! (2025) was funded by Netflix, produced by Cate Blanchett/Coco Francini (Dirty Films) and will be touring festivals in 2025-2026. Gabriela’s feminist-martial-arts, action, rom-com: #BLESSED (2025) was made through Dan Lin’s Rideback Rise fellowship and is currently in post- production.

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Gabriela’s feature LITTLE CON LILI was named top five feature screenplays on the LatinX List (2023), optioned by Netflix (2021-2023). Gabi’s feature script SKRRRT! won The Athena List’s Disney Development Grant (2024). Gabriela's feature THE KIDNAPPING OF CASIMIRO CORONADO was developed through Rideback Rise (2024). Gabriela’s feature film FOR YOUR OWN GOOD was top-five for TriBeCa and AT&T’s Untold Stories $1M production grant, where she pitched in front of a live-audience and a green-light committee at TriBeCa 2024,. FOR YOUR OWN GOOD is currently in development with Gina Rodriguez's Production Company (I Can and I Will) and with Unapologetic Projects.

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Gabriela was one of the 5 narrative Directors selected for the inaugural Cate Blanchett’s Dirty Films/Netflix Proof of Concept Accelerator (2024-2025). She is a Rideback Rise fellow (2024). A National Association for Latino Arts and Cultures fellow (2024), 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).

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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 (2001-2005). She holds two MFA degrees from California Institute of the Arts (2012-2015). Prior to being a filmmaker, Gabriela was a spoken word poet. She has performed at over 1000 colleges and universities and has opened the stage for artists including Pitbull, Mos Def, and the Black-Eyed Peas, as well as for social/political figures including Kamala Harris, and Maxine Waters.

FUN FACTS

1. Gabi's first ever job was cleaning restrooms and tables at McDonalds.

2. In 2008, Gabi cycled across the United States (from Oregon to Virginia), and in 2010 she rode the AIDS Life-Cycle (from SF- LA) and raised money for the LGBT+ Center in LosAngeles.

3. Gabi is a mom of two humans and a dog named Oso (Bear..inSpanish).

4. Gabi is a salsa-dancer;shewasamemberofanall- women Cuban-salsa team that competed at international salsa congresses around the world.