Arabic

Rami Farah is a Syrian performer and filmmaker born in Damascus in 1980. He first studied dance in Damascus at the High Institute for Dramatic Arts and attended many training courses and workshops in contemporary film and dance in France and Denmark. After graduating from the Arab Institute in 2007, Rami made a 35-minute documentary about the Golan Heights entitled Silence. Rami's first feature-length film, A Comedian in a Syrian Tragedy premiered at IDFA in 2019.

Tuija Halttunen is a Finnish documentary filmmaker who has worked in the film industry for over 20 years. Her documentary Neighbours was nominated for Prix Europa in 2013 and State of Mind got a state quality award in 2007. Halttunen’s short documentary Heaven and Earth won the main prize in Tampere Film Festival in 1995. From 2010 to 2015, Halttunen worked as a regional artist in the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.

Alina Gorlova is a director and film editor. Born and raised in Ukraine, she graduated from Karpenko-Kary Kyiv National University of Theatre, Film & Television. In addition to her focus as a documentary director, Alina is also experienced in making fiction shorts, and social and commercial ads.

Naziha Arebi is a Libyan/British artist and filmmaker who returned to Libya during the revolution. Naziha works at the intersection of art and activism, and is co-founder of the film collective HuNa. Alongside her first feature Freedom Fields, she is currently producing the documentary feature After a Revolution, and has a fiction film in development. Naziha is a Hot Docs-Blue Ice and Sundance Lab fellow, a WEF Global Shaper and part of the Lumiere d'Afrique collective. Her artwork has been published extensively in print and exhibited globally.

Suhaib Gasmelbari was born in 1979, in Sudan, where he lived until the age of 16. He attended Cinema Studies in France at the University of Paris VIII. He has written and directed several short films, both fiction and documentary. He is also a researcher and was able to find long-lost Sudanese films, and actively takes part in saving and digitizing the works of Sudanese cinema.

Suhaib Gasmelbari was born in 1979, in Sudan, where he lived until the age of 16. He attended Cinema Studies in France at the University of Paris VIII. He has written and directed several short films, both fiction and documentary. He is also a researcher and was able to find long-lost Sudanese films, and actively takes part in saving and digitizing the works of Sudanese cinema.

Naziha Arebi is a Libyan/British artist and filmmaker who returned to Libya during the revolution. Naziha works at the intersection of art and activism, and is co-founder of the film collective HuNa. Alongside her first feature Freedom Fields, she is currently producing the documentary feature After a Revolution, and has a fiction film in development. Naziha is a Hot Docs-Blue Ice and Sundance Lab fellow, a WEF Global Shaper and part of the Lumiere d'Afrique collective. Her artwork has been published extensively in print and exhibited globally.

A Jordanian director and producer with Palestinian roots, Dina Naser graduated with a BA in Art and Graphic Design. In 2013, she received the DocNomads scholarship to pursue a Master's Degree in Documentary Filmmaking. Naser’s devotion for documenting is inspired by seemingly ordinary people and stories that spring from her homeland in Palestine.

Rachel Leah Jones is a critically-acclaimed documentary filmmaker whose work focuses on Israel/Palestine. She has a BA in Race, Class and Gender Studies, and a MFA in Documentary Media Arts. In addition to making her own films, Jones has produced extensively with others, and has been affiliated with progressive media outlets such as DEMOCRACY NOW! in New York.