Biography

Gabriela Garcia Medina is a Cuban-American filmmaker. 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), and was distributed by HBOMax. Gabriela's short film The 90 Day Plan (2019), won Best of Fest at HBO Women in Comedy Festival (2020), Best Short Film - Powderkeg/Feigco Entertainment (2020), official selection at LAAPFF (2020), official selection PBS LatinXperiene (2020), acquired by WarnerMedia OneFifty (2020), and was distributed by HBOMax. Gabriela's musical comedy Bertie the Brilliant (2022) was made in collaboration with WarnerMedia OneFifty and Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB). Bertie the Brilliant premiered at the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences as part of the NFMLA In Focus: LatinX & Hispanic Cinema, it was an official selection to PBS Short Film Festival (2023), Pride LA, Outfest Family Fusion (2023), and the Oscar-qualifying Chicago International Children's Film Festival (2023) and Hollyshorts Film Festival (2023), and is available on PBS.

Gabriela's feature film Little COn Lili was top five on the LatinX List (The Black List, 2023), and is in development with Mandalay Pictures. Her romantic musical comedy Medio Summer is in development with Macro and Marc Platt Productions. Gabriela's television series Amores y Mentiras will be developed as part of the Rideback Rise (2023/2024) fellowship program. Gabriela is NFMLA Filmmaker of the Year (2023), She's an Academy of Motion Pictures, 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, Maxine Waters.
- IMDb mini biography by: GGM

Gabriela Garcia Medina is a Cuban-American filmmaker. Her short comedy "Little Con Lili" (2019) won the HBO Women in Comedy Festival, distributed on HBOMax (2019-2021), and optioned by Netflix (2021-2023). Her follow-up short "The 90 Day Plan" (2020) also won the HBO Women in Comedy Festival and distributed with HBOMax (2020-2023). Gabriela's musical "Bertie the Brilliant" (2023), made in collaboration with WarnerMedia and Latino Public Broadcasting, earned her the NFMLA Director of the Year award and distributed with PBS (2023- present). Her dark-family-comedy "What To Expect" (shot almost entirely in one-shot) made with Latino Public Broadcasting, will distribute with PBS in 2025. Gabriela's heist-action film "Skrrrt!" (2025), funded by Netflix and produced by Cate Blanchett/Coco Francini (Dirty Films) will tour festivals in 2025-2026. Her feminist martial-arts rom-com #Blessed (2025), developed through Dan Lin's Rideback Rise fellowship, is in post-production and her comedy "Cuqui" was selected for the TriBeCa/Chanel: Through Her Lens program (2025).

Gabriela's feature Little Con Lili was named a Top 5 feature screenplay on the LatinX List (2023) and optioned by Netflix (2021-2023). Her feature script SKRRRT! won The Athena List's Disney Development Grant (2024). The Kidnapping of Casimiro Coronado was developed through Rideback Rise (2024). Her feature For Your Own Good was Top 5 for TriBeCa and AT&T's Untold Stories $1M production grant (2024), and is in development with Gina Rodriguez's production company I Can and I Will Productions, and Unapologetic Projects.

Gabriela is a TriBeCa/Chanel: Through Her Lens fellow (2025), a TriBeCa Untold Stories fellow (2024), a Proof of Concept Accelerator/Cate Blanchet & Dirty Films fellow (2024-2025), 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).

Gabriela holds a BFA from UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television, majoring in Theater with a double minor in Chicano/a Studies and African American Studies (2001-2005), and two MFAs from California Institute of the Arts (2012-2015). Before filmmaking, she was a spoken word poet, performing at over 1,000+ colleges and universities and opening for artists including Pitbull, Mos Def, and the Black Eyed Peas, as well as social and political figures like Kamala Harris and Maxine Waters.
- IMDb mini biography by: Mira Mira Pictures