Jihan el Tahri

Born in Beirut, Jihan El-Tahri is an Egyptian and French filmmaker, author and visual artist. She started her career as a Photographer and later become an International news correspondent for prestigious news outfits including Reuters, The Sunday Times and The Washington Post. She became a fulltime film director in 1990 and has since directed more than a dozen films including the Emmy nominated The House of Saud, which won several international prizes including BANFF, and The Price of Aid, which won the European Media Prize. Cuba: An African Odyssey, has received multiple International awards and Behind the Rainbow won the prestigious prize at Fespaco in 2009. She has written two books published with Penguin and Grasset. El-Tahri’s debut in Visual Arts was with an exhibition titled: After the Year Zero at HKW in Berlin and later reproduced in Warsaw. She has since participated in shows like Talking Liberty in Norway or 100 Years of Now, in Berlin. El-Tahri has also engaged in various associations and institutions working with African Cinema. She has served as treasurer of the Guild of African Filmmakers in the Diaspora and Regional Secretary of the Pan African Federation of Filmmakers (FEPACI).