2017

A Sudanese director and producer. His film The Last Game was screened in Doha Tribeca Film Festival. He also collaborated with many Sudanese filmmakers as a producer, art director and assistant director. Some of the notable films he worked on include the feature film You Will Die at Twenty by Amjad Abualaa, and Nyerkuk by Mohamed Kordofani which won the NAAS award at Carthage Film Festival in 2016. Omda is also a film programmer at Sudan Film Factory.

Elaf Alkanzy, film director and editor from Sudan, has worked as a production manager for several independent films. She organized film workshops, seminars, meetings for filmmakers in Sudan within the scope of her work at Sudan Film Factory. Elaf currently works as the executive director at the Sudan Independent Film Festival and Sudan Film Factory.

Born in Tunis in 1991, he started writing in Arabic since his childhood, and he enrolled in School Theater Club in Ein Darahem. His interest grew in writing in Tunisian Arabic, he contributed with Amin Gharbi in establishing "Street Poetry" group which organizes poetry workshops in the street.

Annemarie Jacir has two films premiering as official selections of the Cannes Film Festival, one in Venice, Berlin and Locarno. She has written, directed and produced over sixteen films. With a commitment to teaching, training and hiring locally, Annemarie also curates, actively promoting independent cinema in the region.  Founder of Philistine Films, she collaborates regularly with fellow filmmakers. She also teaches screenwriting and works as a freelance editor as well as screenwriter.

Co-founder of Cinema Akil, an independent cinema platform in Dubai. She was a Fulbright scholar of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University. Kazim has contributed to publications including Al Jazeera, Gulf News, Jadaliyya and the Art Dubai blog. She has been involved in programming cinema popups including Abu Dhabi Film Festival at The Pavilion and a Focus on the UAE program at the Short Film Week (Kurzfilmwoche) in Regensburg, Germany.