SOFIA DJAMA (ALGERIA)
SCREENWRITER AND DIRECTOR
Algerian screenwriter and director born in Oran. After studying literature at the University of Algiers, in the early 2000s he dedicated himself to writing novels. Algiers, where he lives then, becomes a full-fledged character of his work. In 2011 he made his first short film, “Mollement, un samedi matin”, which adapts one of his own stories. Encouraged by the awards received, including two at the Clermont-Ferrand Festival, she undertakes the writing of her first feature film, “Les bienheureux”, which premieres worldwide at the Venice Film Festival of 2017 and with which her young performer, Lyna Khoudri wins the Best Actress Award in the Orizzonti section. In the same edition of the festival, the film also won the Brian and Lina Mangiacapré awards. He is currently preparing his second feature film.
MUAYAD ALAYAN (PALESTINE)
DIRECTOR
Muayad Alayan is a Palestinian film director and producer based in Jerusalem. He is the co-founder of PalCine Productions, one of the very few West Bank registered companies focused on producing narrative feature films. His directing debut feature, Love Theft and Other Entanglements, premiered at Berlinale Panorama in 2015. His second feature, The Reports on Sarah and Saleem, won the Special Jury Prize and HBF Audience Award in Rotterdam’s Tiger Competition in 2018. It also won the Grand Jury Prize at Seattle and Best Feature Film at Durban and was distributed in over 50 countries. Alayan’s short film, Lesh Sabreen, premiered in competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2009 and was distributed to TV and DVD. He is a co-founder of the Palestine Film Meetings, the only annual film industry platform in Palestine bringing international and local film professionals together.
JULIA SABINA GUTIÉRREZ (SPAIN)
RESEARCHER AND CURATOR
Julia Sabina Gutiérrez is a researcher and curator in the field of audiovisual arts. Doctor in Communication Sciences and Cinematographic Studies from the University Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle. In 2018, she won the International Prize “Sial Pygmalion of Thought and Essay” for her book “Rafael Azcona, el guionista como creador”. She is a professor of the Audiovisual Communication degree at the University of Alcalá de Henares and has taught classes, seminars and conferences in the Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle University, American University of Paris, Université Libre de Bruxelles and Conrad Wolf University, among others. He also works as a screenwriter. Her scripts have been selected in the Script & Pitch of the Torino Film Lab, in the Script Station of the Berlinale Talents Campus, the European Short Pitch …
BUSHA ROZZA (EGYPT)
ACTRESS, PRODUCER, TV PRESENTER
Bushra Ahmed Abdalla Rozza is an Egyptian actress, singer, television host and producer born and raised in the United Kingdom. At the age of eighteen, she became the youngest correspondent in the Middle East for Dubai TV and Abu Dhabi TV. She starred in the Middle East’s first ever sitcom Shabab Online and in many successful television shows, feature films and plays before being chosen by the internationally renowned director Egyptian director Youssef Chahine to play a part in his movie Alexandria… New York. She won the Best Actress Award at the Dubai International Film Festival in 2010 for the movie 678 by the talented Mohamed Diab. She is the Producer and Deputy CEO of Dollar Film / New Century art production company and CEO and co-founder of the prestigious El Gouna Film Festival which in three years of activity is establishing itself as the leading film festival in the Middle East.
MARIE SPENCER (FRANCE)
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Marie Spencer is a French cinematographer. She started her career at the early nineties working as camera assistant in films like “Toto le héros” (Jaco Van Dormael, 1991) or “La haine” (Matthieu Kassovitz, 1995). As a cinematographer, she worked with Abdellatif Kechiche (“La faute à Voltaire”, 2000), Bruno Chiche (“Hell”, 2006), Pascal Bonitzer (“Je pense à vous”, 2006) or Xavier Durringer (“Paradise Beach”, 2019), among others. At the same time, she combined that work with others as second unit in “A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries” (James Ivory, 1998), “8 ½ Women” (Peter Greenaway, 1999) or “Un prophète” (Jacques Audiard, 2009). She also worked for TV series and documentaries. She is currently shooting a new Netflix series about jazz music with Damien Chazelle, Laïla Marrakchi and Alan Poul.