Documentary debuts the trailer for Children No More: Were and Are Gone, a new short documentary from award-winning Israeli director Hilla Medalia, produced by Medalia, documentary doyen Sheila Nevins, and Yael Melamede. Children No More screened at DOC NYC in the festival’s Short List section and will be broadcast on Sky on December 3, 2025.
Filmed in Tel Aviv, Children No More follows a weekly silent vigil held in memory of children killed in Gaza. These vigils began with a small group of people in a public square, each holding a photograph of a child whose life was lost and bearing the words “WAS AND IS NO MORE.” As the weeks pass, the number of participants increases, more photos are added, and the public surrounding the group responds with a range of emotions, from grief to hostility to appreciation. The short maintains an observational approach, focusing on the tension between the stillness of the activists and the movement of daily life, as cinematographer Avner Sharaf allows viewers to witness the evolving atmosphere as ordinary routines converge with public mourning.
Medalia, a Peabody Award–winner who first came to prominence with the short To Die in Jerusalem (2007), continues her longstanding interest in stories shaped by conflict, loss, and civic action. Medalia explains the impetus for Children No More:
I was overwhelmed by a feeling that I had to do something—anything—to break through the helplessness I felt watching this war unfold. The vigil began in March 2025 when the ceasefire collapsed. A small group of women stood silently in a Tel Aviv square holding photographs of children killed in Gaza.
Their stillness cut through the noise of daily life. Some people looked away; others stood with them. Week after week, being in their presence felt like witnessing a quiet, urgent cry. In a time when it has become so easy to look past each other’s pain, their commitment to simply honoring these children—to insisting that their humanity be seen—struck me as an act of courage. The film follows that insistence. It shows how compassion, offered without slogans or speeches, can challenge us to rethink what we’ve accepted. In its own way, it invites all of us to stay human toward one another, even when it’s hard.
Children No More is a Medalia Productions, Salty Features, and Full Story Films production. The short was supported by the independent Albi Film and Television Fund.
