Logline:

A naive American journalist visiting Jerusalem over October 7, 2023, begins connecting with her Hungarian Jewish lineage when Israel deems her a high-level security threat.

Heather Cathleen Cox

Bio:

Heather Cathleen Cox is an investigative journalist and photojournalist with bylines appearing in local South Texas newspapers as well as Yahoo! News, NewsBreak, The Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post. 

In 2016, she began traveling abroad as a volunteer and advocate for helping those most deserving. By now, she has visited around 30 countries, and still calls Harlingen, Texas home.

In 2023 and 2025, respectively, her creative nonfiction story, “Becoming Esther,” and her poem, "cafe sira," depicting life in Israel post-October 7th were anthologized. 

She leads both poetry workshops and open mic events in Texas and abroad, she loves to make art and music, and she is a meditation leader who enjoys studying and practicing holistic health. 

"Out of Israel," Heather's very first screenplay, depicts her journey to discovering a matrilineal Jewish family connection that led her to be in Jerusalem, Israel at the moment of the Nova Massacre in 2023. She had plans to attend Tel Aviv University to study Hebrew, when her world was forever changed...and she was ultimately kicked out of the country where her quest to find her family only became more real and meaningful. 

In December of 2025, she plans to graduate from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, with a BA in English, Creative Writing.