FESTIVAL DIRECTORS

MOUNA ZAYLAH is an experienced arts and cultural development worker and event manager with over 16 years of experience working in diverse settings and a range of organisations. She has worked on a range of projects including theatre productions, festivals and multimedia projects and exhibitions. Some of her previous employers include: Urban Theatre Projects, South-Sydney Youth Services and Casula Powerhouse. She is currently the Cultural Development Program Manager at the Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE) overseeing a range of projects including the Urban Music Project, Youth Digital Cultures, Western Sydney Screen Culture Project, Create Media! Refugee Multimedia Training Project and the Digital Storytelling Project. Since 2007, she has worked with Fadia Abboud as the Co-Director of the Arab Film Festival.

FADIA ABBOUD is a filmmaker and community worker, combining community cultural development practices and digital media. Her work includes “I Remember 1948″, a documentary that was screened on SBS in 2008. Fadia has directed a range of short films including “In the Ladies Lounge” and “Big Trouble, Little Fish”. She also works as a trainer on a range of screen projects for arts and cultural organisations. She has been involved with the Arab Film Festival since its inception in 2001 as a participating filmmaker, and on the 2004, 2005 festival committee and currently the Co-Director of the Arab Film Festival since 2007.

PUBLICIST Janine Collins GRAPHIC DESIGN Meiying Saw  MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER Pan Kue Park DOCUMENTATION VIDEO ARTIST Vanna Seang MARKETING SUPPORT Marina Kingsley COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT Monique Choy WEBSITE DESIGN and DEVELOPMENT Maissa Alameddine – MEDIALOFT

COMMITTEE MEMBERS

DR PAULA ABOOD is a community cultural development worker, writer, director and educator. She has written for film, radio, performance and literary publications. She is currently writing essays for a blog ‘Race and the City’ as part of a Western Sydney Artists’ Fellowship, Arts NSW. She works with refugee and migrant communities on storytelling and film projects.

MOHAMED DUAR works in the field of human rights for Amnesty International. He holds a Bachelor degree in International Studies, with a double major in Arabic and Islamic Studies, as well as Government and International Relations, and is currently completing a Master of Human Rights from the University of Sydney.

ALISSAR GAZAL has been working in the Australian film industry since 1994 and was associate producer on “Billal” (1995) and on “Temple of Dreams” (2007). She recently produced and directed her first independent documentary that explores the experiences of Lesbians in Lebanon, “Lesbanese” 2008. Alissar has extensive experience in working on a range of community and educational theatre productions and is currently producing a series of training films.

FIRAS NAJI is an environmental consultant and a community activist. He has participated in a range of arts and community events with a view to educating the wider Australian community about the issues affecting Iraqi communities. He is a member of the Arab Council Australia, a management committee member for the Canterbury-Bankstown Migrant Resource Centre, and a member of the Auburn Arabic Calligraphy Group.

JOANNE SAAD is a Photo and Video artist, teacher and CCD practitioner who has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally in group and solos shows. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Art Education from College of Fine Arts, University of NSW.

SALEH SAQQAF is an actor, journalist, broadcaster and media trainer. He has worked on a variety of theatre productions including TAQA Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company, Sidetrack and bilingual community theatre. He is a freelance artist and has worked for SBS Australia and Information and Cultural Exchange (ICE), and been involved in a range of screen productions.

OMEIMA SUKKARIEH has been working with communities for over 15 years. She has worked for a range of organisations such as the Australian Human Rights Commission in the Race Discrimination Unit including projects such as Isma – Listen: national consultations on eliminating prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australians (Isma Project) and Living Spirit: Muslim women and human rights national project. In her current role as Manager and Community Development Officer at Auburn Community Development Network, she works closely with diverse communities on a variety of arts, youth and community development programs, and most recently successfully producing a theatre production Walking In My Shoes.