Malak Quota is a Saudi filmmaker and content director with a focus in animation. Her films have screened internationally and won several awards. Malak holds a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Media from Otis College of Art and Design, and a Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts. She has worked in an array of industries and productions from gaming to digital agencies, and is currently an assistant professor at Zayed University in the UAE and working on her first feature film.
Tim Wilkerson is an award-winning America 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.
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. Lakhdar Chadli is an experienced teacher, senior level producer and 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. Collaborates to deliver advanced operational planning, budget management and resource development. Recipient of four international film awards, and a history of directing and producing over 35 documentaries, Launching TV Channels. Assistant Professor in many higher education institutions, like Canadian University Dubai, High Institute of Sound and Image in Montreal, Canada, BBC Academy for Journalists.
Afra Al Marar is an Emirati filmmaker and producer with 12 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. Rachid Naim is a Moroccan film critic and journalist. He holds a Ph. D. in film history and communication studies and is currently a professor at Cadi Ayyad University, Safi, Morocco. He is the founder and artistic director of the Journées Cinématographiques de Safi. He is also member of the Moroccan Association of Film Critics (AMCC) and the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI). Dr. Naim publishes articles and books about topics linked to cinema, representation and art. He frequently participates as lecturer in festivals and seminars around the world (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Burkina Faso, France, United Kingdom, Belgium). As a jury member, Dr. Naim took part in many international film festivals such as: the 26th edition of the Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso (FESPACO) in 2019; the 40th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival in Egypt (CIFF) in 2018; the 2016 and 2017 editions of Morocco’s National Film Festival; the 1st edition of Rabat’s Festival of Film and Audiovisual Schools of Africa in 2017, the 13th edition of TransSaharian Zagora International Film Festival in 2016.
Luz Salem Villamil is the Deputy Director at Cinema Akil. A third-culture kid, She is half Palestinian, half Colombian and has lived in Dubai for 20 years. Luz is a lover of film and has more than 12 years of experience in the media industry across industries, having worked as a marketing strategist and currently managing the pop-ups, business development and operations of Cinema Akil as Deputy Director. She is also the creator of Alternativo Latino, the UAE’s first Latin American Film Week. As a breast cancer survivor, Luz dedicates a lot of her time raising awareness on breast cancer among young women through talks, articles and her own blog Lopsided Life.
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.
Salwa Al Hadhrami is an Senior Production Manager at twofour54 where she managed international, regional and local productions being filmed in Abu Dhabi such as Rashash (MBC 2020 – 2021), 6 Underground ( Netflix 2018), Saaho (Bollywood 2018) and Sesame Street Middle East (2015 – 2017). She graduated from Zayed University with Bachelor degree in Communication and Media Sciences. She is the founder of an Emirati Production Company, Melbq Media Production in which she worked in a TVC for The Ministry Of Interior, collaborated with Abu Dhabi Sports channel for a sports show, Deep Breath and produced Melbq social Media show.
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