Ilana Trachtman

Ilana Trachtman is an Emmy award-winning documentary director/producer. For over twenty-five years, she has created programs for numerous networks including PBS, HBO Family, ABC-TV, Showtime, A&E, Discovery, Lifetime, and the Sundance channel. Ilana believes that true stories, carefully told, have transcendent power to inspire compassion, action, and community-building. Her topics have ranged from the legacy of slavery in Latin America (Black in Latin America with Henry Louis Gates, PBS) to activist Gulf coast shrimpers (Our Heroes, Ourselves, Lifetime,) glassblowing programs for at-risk youth (The Arts Advantage, ABC-TV) and the perspectives of transgender parents (The Pursuit, PBS.) Other favorite prime-time directing credits include the independent feature Mariachi High and Texas Ranch House. Ilana supervised production on PBS' History Detectives and Sundance's Big Ideas for a Small Planet. Through her production company Ruby Pictures, Ilana made the feature documentary Praying with Lior which played theatrically in over 60 cities in the US and abroad. The film garnered 6 Audience Awards for Best Documentary, the Grand Prix at the International Disability Film Festival in Moscow, and was a critic's pick of the New York Times, New York Magazine, Washington Post, and Philadelphia Inquirer.