When Elephants Fight

Director and Producer Paula Eiselt, Producer Ronny Merdinger, Executive Producer Jana Edelbaum

Filmed over two years across Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and the United States, a Jewish American filmmaker sets out to make sense of a war that has followed her home.

Paula Eiselt

Director, Producer

Paula Eiselt is a Primetime Emmy-nominated, Peabody and duPont-Columbia Award-winning director and Sundance Jury Prize winner known for her rigorous, character-driven journalistic storytelling. Her films, including 93Queen (HBO Max; PBS POV), Aftershock (Sundance; Hulu/Disney+), and Under G-d (Sundance; PBS POV Shorts), have screened at over 100 international festivals, received theatrical releases, and been distributed globally on platforms including Disney+, Hulu, HBO Max, PBS/POV, and ARTE. Aftershock received the Sundance Special Jury Award: Impact for Change and went on to earn a Peabody Award, a duPont-Columbia Award, and a Primetime Emmy nomination. Her latest feature, We Met at Grossinger’s, premiered at DOC NYC 2025 and is slated for release in 2026.

Ronny Merdinger

Producer

Ronny Merdinger is an Emmy nominated producer whose work spans documentary, narrative film, and television. Her producing credits include Transkids, an award-winning documentary series, The Oslo Diaries (HBO), and Judith Helfand’s Love & Stuff. Her broader body of work includes the Sundance breakout Half Nelson, John Oliver: Live on Stage Terrifying Times, and HBO’s Emmy Award winning comedy series Flight of the Conchords. She has managed productions for major international networks and studios including BBC, HBO, NBC, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Comedy Central, Showtime, Fox, and Relativity Media. Merdinger is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned a degree in Film & Television with honors.

Jana Edelbaum

Executive Producer

Jana Edelbaum is an Emmy Award winning founder of Ideal Partners, an independent film and television development and production company based in NYC. Ideal’s recent documentaries include The Librarians (Sundance 2025; ITVS/Independent Lens), Beyond Utopia (2023 Sundance Audience Award; duPont Journalism Award), and Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage (Disney+). Ideal Partners has also produced a narrative feature biopic about iconic choreographer Alvin Ailey, directed by Barry Jenkins and distributed by Searchlight. Ideal’s films have received BAFTA, PGA, DGA, and Oscar shortlist recognition and have won Independent Spirit and Humanitas Awards.