Lena Jayyusi is Professor Emeritus in the College of Communication and Media Sciences at ZU. Prior to her 16 years at Zayed University she taught at Wellesley College in the US, the University of Connecticut at Storrs, and Cedar Crest College in Pennsylvania, where she was Chair of the Department of Communication Studies for several years. She has been an Annenberg Scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication (University of Pennsylvania), an SSRC Fellow and a visiting researcher at the EHESS in Paris, France’s top institute of higher education and research. She has also served as Senior TOKTEN consultant on media and culture for the United Nations Development Program in Jerusalem. Author and editor of several books, her research and publications are interdisciplinary, addressing topics that include media and cultural studies, film and visuality, memory and narrative, oral history, and political discourse. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Global Media and Communication journal and a member of the Editorial Review Board of the Arab Council for the Social Sciences. Dr. Jayyusi has an MA. And Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Manchester in the UK, and an M.Sc. in Film Studies from Boston University.
Yannis Kontos is an Assistant Professor of Visual Studies and Creative Industries at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences of United Arab Emirates University and an Award-winning Documentary Photographer with over 25 years of Professional Experience in Storytelling, Creative and Media Industries. He holds a PhD degree in Documentary Photography from the University of Wales (UK) and a Master of Arts degree in Photographic Journalism from the University of Westminster (UK). As a Professional Photojournalist, he has covered wars, conflicts and major events for international news organizations in more than 50 countries. His Editorial work has been recognized by 20 respected awards including first prize in the World Press Photo Competition. His work has been published in the world’s most well-known publications and has been shown at exhibitions internationally while he is represented by the American agency Polaris Images.
More: www.yanniskontos.com
Tim Wilkerson is an award-winning American director of fiction, documentary, and animation films, whose work has been seen world-wide via film festivals, broadcast, and the web, and whose commercial clients have included Ford Motor Company, State Farm Insurance, and Caterpillar Tractor. Among his many films, Wilkerson’s short, animated film “Suddenly It Rained”, won the “Best Short Narrative” award at the D.C. Independent Film Festival, and a “Silver Award” at the Houston International Film Festival, as well as having screenings at many other international film festivals. Wilkerson’s last film “The Oracles Of Pennsylvania Avenue” was a feature length documentary, which garnered “Best Director of A Feature Documentary” at the Massachusetts Independent Film Festival, “Best Director” at the Silent River Film Festival in Beverly Hills California, and “Best Feature Documentary” at the Daytona Film Festival. It was also screened world-wide for three years on the Al Jazeera English Channel’s documentary program “Al Jazeera World”, and was listed by one influential film blogger as one of the most important films of 2014. Currently Wilkerson is in pre-production on a feature length fiction film, which will be a co-production between Egypt and the U.S.
Afra Al Marar is an Emirati filmmaker and producer with 13 years of experience in the film industry. Afra holds an MBA in entrepreneurship and innovation from CERT, Higher Colleges of Technology, a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Public Relations from Abu Dhabi University, and a Higher Diploma in Applied Media Science from Higher Colleges of Technology. Afra is the founder and general manager of ToToaster Productions, a production agency that offers complete services for film production on international standards. Afra works as well as a creative producer for Baynounah TV, a free-to-air Emirati TV channel. Afra is also a media industry committee advisor for Higher Colleges of Technology. Afra produced 100+ hours of Live & pre-recorded TV programs and five short films screened across local and international film festivals. In addition, she worked as a creative developer and project manager for six digital and printed books. Afra also worked as a media buyer and advertising executive for cultural and touristic campaigns. Throughout the 12 years in the creative industry, Afra has been exposed to various experiences such as concept development, scriptwriting, directing, producing, media distribution, and media buying and strategies.
Dr. Lakhdar Chadli is an experienced teacher, senior level producer and film director, experienced in developing live news, talk shows and current affairs programming.
Provides strong strategic and operational leadership to build high performing teams in a creative and professional environment.
Cultivates effective methods to implement innovative ideas for programs with expert direction of operations and production in a fast paced, high-pressure industry.
Recipient of four international film awards, and a history of directing and producing over 35 films, Launching TV Channels.
Assistant Professor in many higher education institutions, like Canadian University Dubai www.cud.ac.ae High Institute of Sound and Image in Montreal Canada www.isis.ca , BBC Academy for Journalists www.bbc.academy.uk.
Dr. Naim is a Moroccan film critic and journalist. He holds a PhD in film history and communication studies from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Belgium and is currently a full professor in the Cadi Ayyad University, Safi, Morocco. He is the founder and artistic director of the Journées Cinématographiques de Safi which are held each year. He is also member of the Moroccan Association of Film Critics (AMCC), of the African Federation of Film Critics (AFFC) and the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).
Dr. Naim publishes periodically articles and books about topics linked to cinema, representation and art. He also frequently participates as lecturer in festivals and seminars around the world (Morocco, Algeria, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Egypt, France, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, …)
As a jury member, Dr. Naim took part in many international film festivals such as:
– Zayed University Middle East FILM Festival (ZUMEFF), Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2019-2023.
– The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in February 2019, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
– The 40th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) in November 2018, Cairo, Egypt.
– 17st edition of the International Festival of Animation Cinema (FICAM), Meknes, Morocco.
– The 2016 and 2017 editions of National Film Festival, Tangier, Morocco.
– The 1st edition of Rabat’s Festival of Film and Audiovisual Schools of Africa in April 2017, Rabat, Morocco.
– The 13th edition of TransSaharian Zagora International Film Festival in December 2016, Zagora, Morocco…
Rawia Abdulla is an Emirati director, who directed and produced several short films. She got her bachelor’s degree on Media communications from United Arab Emirates University. She holds her master’s on Filmmaking at École supérieure de réalisation Audiovisuelle in France. Rawia participated in many international film festivals. In addition to that, her short film won an award for best short film and best actress in the Gulf film festival in 2009. And her scenario (Contact line) won the best script at Dubai International Film Festival 2017.
Dr. Yousef Alfailakawi is an assistant professor at Kuwait University since 1999. He served as the Head of the Mass Communication Department at Kuwait University (2009-2011). He is currently The President of Arab-US Association for Communication Educators. Alfailakawi received his bachelor’s degree from Denver University, master’s degree from Murray State University, and Ph.D. degrees from University of South Carolina in Television Production. Before that, he worked as a TV director with Kuwait Television in which he directed more than 381 TV films and spots. He also won the Best Documentary TV Director in 1994 during the Arab States Broadcasting Union festival. He also served as a media consultant for many governments and private sectors. He supervised many masters and Ph.D. thesis and dissertations. His teaching areas are TV Productions, Documentary films, Visual Communication, Mass Media Theory, Mass Media Research, Public Opinion, Script Writing and News writing. His research and professional interests are social media, TV productions, documentary films, media research, new media technology and effects.
Gueroum Hammadi
- PhD in Literary and Film Studies
Postgraduate Diploma in Narrative Discourse Analysis - Professor of Cinema Ethics at Hassan II University of Casablanca
- Head of the Moroccan Center for Education
- Director of the International Festival of Author Film in Rabat
- Founding member of the Moroccan Association of Film Critics
- Vice President of the Center for Artistic and Aesthetic Research at the Faculty of Arts, Casablanca
- Former member of the Cinema Business Support Committee Member of the editorial board of the Moroccan Film Research Magazine
- Former advisor to the Ministry of Communication
- President of the Film Action Club of Casablanca Member of the office of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights
- Founding member of the Moroccan Alliance for Culture and the Arts
Among his books:
- Wings of Desire
- Cinema aesthetics
- Quote from the narrative narrative to the film narrative