Sherif el Bendary was born in Cairo in 1978. Graduated from the Applied Arts college in 2001, and worked as a textile engineer. He participated in many theatrical productions at the university theatre as well as many collective art exhibitions. He studied film directing at the Higher Institue of Cinema, Egypt in 2002, and worked [...]

Saad Hendawy is an Egyptian filmmaker who has directed seven short films, six documentaries and most recently, his first feature. He has been making films for over fours years. He studied film directing at Higher Institute of Cinema, Egypt and holds a Bachelor degree (1994) and a Graduate Diploma (1996). Hendawy’s love for films is inspired [...]

Mohsen Safieddin has lived and worked in Adelaide, South Australia for over 13 years. He is a business owner, husband and father. Mohsen’s parents and most of his family still reside in Lebanon and were gravely affected by the 2006 war, which compelled him to produce his first documentary, Lebanon Burning. Producer LEBANON BURNING

Peter Manning is a former Executive Producer of the landmark ABC current affairs program ‘Four Corners’. Prior to that he worked as a reporter for a range of publications and media, including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Bulletin, and edited Nation Review. He has worked behind the scenes in television journalism for many years [...]

Mohammed Alatar is a filmmaker and long time human rights activist. Alatar was nominated for the Martin Luther King Jr Award for Humanity in 2002, for his work campaigning for human rights. His films include The Iron Wall (2006) and Jerusalem: the East Side Story (2007).

Director THE IRON WALL

Buthina Canaan Khoury is a Palestinian independent filmmaker who established the Majd Production Company in 2000. The company’s main objective is to produce documentaries about various crucial Palestinian issues, focusing on women’s social and political problems. Khoury received her Bachelor’s degree in Filmmaking and Photography from the Massachusetts College of Fine Arts. Women in Struggle [...]

Oday Rasheed was born in Iraq in 1973. He attended the Institute for Electrical Science and the Institute for Applicable Art in Baghdad. Shortly after completing his studies he worked for local newspapers writing critical essays and articles on cinema. In the late 1990’s, Rasheed produced several experimental movies. His works include Mud Whiteness (1997), [...]

Moncef Dhouib Born in 1952 in Sfax, Tunisia, Dhouib graduated from the University Paris III returning to Tunisia to work in street puppet theatre. Beginning in the 1980s, he directed a series of short films: Hammam D’Hab (1985), The Trance (El-Hadhrah, 1989) and Earth (Tourba, 1996). His first feature, The Sultan of the Medina (Soltane [...]

born in Lebanon in 1974, Labaki studied Media at Saint-Joseph University in Beirut, graduating in 1997. 11 Rue Pasteur, her university film project was awarded First Prize for Short Films at IMA’s Biennale du Cinéma Arabe, Paris in 1998.She has since directed commercials and music videos for well known Middle-Eastern entertainers. In 2004, Labaki attended [...]

Cherien Dabis born to Palestinian immigrant parents, award-winning independent filmmaker and television writer Cherien Dabis has been recognised by the industry’s top organisations and trade publications, including the Sundance Institute, IFP and Filmmaker Magazine. A 2004 graduate of Columbia University’s Masters of Fine Arts Film program, Dabis’ short films have screened at some of the [...]

Samer Najari, the son of a Syrian father and Lebanese mother, was born in Moscow in 1976. Shortly after commencing studies in architecture at the University of Damascus, he immigrated to Montreal, Canada, with his family in 1994. Since then, he has obtained a Bachelor of .Fine Arts in film production from Concordia University, 2001, [...]

Mirna Nassar was born in Lebanon in 1983, but due to the political instability of the time, her family moved to Sydney, Australia. From an early age till present she has pursued an interest in the performing arts, which then lead her into the study of Digital media at the University of New South Wales, College of Fine Arts.

Mai Masri has directed and produced many award-winning films that have been broadcast by more than 100 television networks worldwide. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in film from San Francisco State University. In collaboration with her husband, filmmaker, Jean Khalil Chamoun, Masri has produced a series of films that have won over 60 international awards. Her [...]