Born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1981 Othman Naciri was graduated from the Paris ESRA Film School in 2004 and Film Business School in Malaga, Spain, in 2006. He has worked on many films in France, directed a documentary-fiction in Spain for Moroccan TV in 2006, as well as many other documentaries.
Born in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1973 and grew up in Iran. His short films, made between 1997 and 2005, have been presented at many international festivals, winning awards and positive reception.
The Arabian Nights Animation collection is a World Premiere curated by Mohamed Ghazala. Films from Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, Egypt, UAE, Tunisia and Algeria have been collated by Mohamed Ghazala, Director of ASIFA (the International Animated Film Association) Egypt, and animation lecturer at the Fine Arts Faculty of Minia University.
A Palestinian director and actor who began his filmmaking career in New York, Elia Suleiman is best known for Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996) and Divine Intervention (2002), a modern tragicomedy that addresses life under occupation in the Palestinian territories.
Born in Algiers, Merzak Allouache graduated from IDHEC film school in Paris in 1967. In 1976, he shot his first feature, Omar Gatlato, which screened in the Directors’ Fortnight sidebar of the Cannes Festival. His second movie, Les Aventures d’un Héros (1977) was awarded the Golden Thanit at the Carthage Film Festival.
Born in Cairo and studied economics and political science at Cairo University. He later worked as a film critic and assistant director in Beirut. In 1987, he directed his first feature, Summer Thefts, a film that contributed to the revival of Egyptian cinema.
Shirin Abu Shaqra studied history and political science at St Joseph University, Beirut before collaborating with artist Fouad Elkoury on his photographic journal On War and Love. She is currently studying in Fresnoy National Studio for Contemporary Arts in France.
Meqdad graduated from Kuwait University with a BA in English literature. He has worked as a production assistant and assistant director on many TV commercials for Al-Watan Newspaper and TV channel.
Born in Kuwait with a German-Canadian mother and Syrian-French father, Amar Chebib was raised throughout the Arabian-Persian Gulf while receiving a Western education. He started experimenting with filmmaking during his adolescence by contrasting traditional Arab culture with modern Westernisation.
Born in Beirut in June 67, Claude El Khal has been a comedian, cartoonist and an ad man, before joining Tony Kaye’s roadster as an ad director.
Talented young writer, director and editor Ramzi Nabulsi was a major contributor to SBS’s Salam Cafe, the first Muslim-themed program to be aired in prime time in the Western world. Ramzi has also produced four of his own short films in Australia and crewed on many others.
Filmmaking has become a significant part of his life and he has been involved in countless short films and music videos, mostly with his filmmaking team – 9Lives. His main genres include documentary, comedy and action pieces.
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, raised in Johannesburg and Sydney and is currently based in LA. Rima is the first film that she has wrote and directed. She has recently assisted Oscar-nominated Australian director Luke Doolan, and worked in post-production on the indie feature Hesher, which premiered at the Sundance film festival last January.
A distinguished Bahraini film critic, writer and director, Mohammed Rashid Bu-Ali has accomplished many things during the course of his short professional career. A legal professional with diverse experience ranging from commercial to personal law, Bu-Ali has authored, directed and produced a number of films and documentaries.
Palestinian filmmaker based in Jerusalem. He returned to Palestine in 2005 after completing his film production studies in San Francisco. His recent short film Lesh Sabreen? has been in the official selections of over 50 film festivals in 22 countries around the world since its 2009 premiere at Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in France.
Zeina Daccache is a Lebanese TV actor, director and drama therapist who has studied at St Joseph University in Beirut, Ecole Philippe Gaulier in London and KSU in the US. She is also the founder and director of Catharsis-Lebanese Center for Drama Therapy.
Over two years Ali has worked on short films and TV commercials in all areas of production, but his sights remain focused on directing.
