Members of the Jury 2007
Samir Farid
Samir Farid was born in 1943 in Cairo, Egypt. He studied drama criticism at the Academy of Arts, High Institute of Dramatic Arts in Cairo and graduated 1965 with a study on “The Meaning of Silence in Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett”.
Samir Farid is engaged as film critic at “al-Gomhuria” daily in Cairo since 1964. He was editor for the Egyptian magazine “al-Cinema” from 1969 till it was stopped 1970 and editor for “al-Taliaa” in 1973, editor-in-chef of the Egyptian weekly “al-Cinema wa-l-funun” in 1977, editor for the Algerian magazine “al-Shashatan” in 1979 and editor for the Cypriot magazine “al-Ufuq” 1987.
Samir Farid was Co-Founder of the National Festival of Short and Documentary Films in 1970, the National Festival of Feature Films 1971, the Arab Film Critics Union and the Egyptian Film Critics Association in 1972. He is member of International Juries since 1972. He is member of “Federation International de la Press Cinematographicque” (FIPRESCI) since 1971; member of the International Initiating Committee of the General History of Cinema in 1982; representative of “Variety” in Cairo 1981- 1985; member of the Consultative Board of the Minister of Culture in 1989; Cinema Supervisor at Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2001.
Samir Farid is winner of the Golden Medallion of Cannes in 2000 and of the State Prize in Arts 2002. In 2005 at the film festival in Egypt he was honoured for his work.
Since 1967 Samir Farid was invited to more than 170 festivals and seminars in Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA. He was member of the jury of many film competitions.
Bashar Ibrahim
Bashar Ibrahim, author and film critic, was born in 1962 in Daliyy, a village near Damascus/Syria. His family originally came from the Palestinian Village “al-Khalsa” (Kiryat Shmona) in Israel. Since 2000 he is director of the publishing house Dar al-Tariq. In 2006 he was editor of the magazine al-Warda. From 1999 to 2000 he was Editor-in-Chief of the magazine al-Ibda’ al-arabi. He is member of the Arab Author’s Union in Syria and the Palestinian Author’s and Journalist’s Union (whose treasurer he was in 2002). He also is member of the Assembly of Palestinian Authors and of the Palestinian Film Group.
He worked on the two documentary films „The Arab Christs“ and „Dualism“ together with the Jordanian film production company Taif in 2007. He planned the programme of two documentary films of the series al-Mubdi’un („The Creatives“ – portraits of artists) for al-Jazeera TV Channel in 2006. He planned the first show of independent film productions organized by the magazine Warda in Damascus in 2006 and attended many TV talkshows.
Bashar Ibrahim participated in the project „Discover Islamic art!“ in cooperation with the organization „Museum without frontiers“ in Belgium in the year 2007 and in a book project on „The Palestinian issue in the film“ together with the filmmaker Qais az-Zubaidi 2006 and in several other projects with Dr. Gum’a Qadja (1999-2007). Assistance at the Documentary and Short Film Festival in Ismailiyya from 2004 to 2006 and at the Documentary Film Festival in Beirut in 2005.
Member of the jury at the Short Film Competition in Damascus in 2007.
In 2001 Bashar Ibrahim was awarded the Imam-Khomeini-Prize for his studies and in 1996 the Rabi’at al-Ruqayy-Prize for his poems. In 1995 in Syria he won the Prize of the Author’s Union for Short Stories.
Publications: „Mawwal al-Jamr“ (Poems), Damascus 2000, „Saif ad-Dukhan“ (Short Stories); Damascus 1995. Studies: The Film Works of Dureid [Lahham] und Nihad [Qal’i], Damascus 2007; Private Film Production in Syria, Damascus 2006; Refugee Camps in the Palestinian Novel, Damascus 2006; Palestine in the Arab Film, Damascus 2005; The Variety of Syrian Film Works, Damascus 2003. Nasser and the Film, Damascus 2001; The Palestinian Film in the 20th Century, Damascus 2001; A Glance at the Palestinian Novel of the 20th Century, Damascus 2000; A Glance at the Palestinian Film of the 20th Century, Damascus 2000; Wind of time,… Cultural Globalization, Damascus 2000; The Middle Eastern System of Rule, Damascus 2000; „Opinions and Statements about the Syrian Film“, Damascus 1997.
Some chapters of his book „The Palestinian Film in the 20th Century“ were translated into English at Columbia University under the supervision of Prof. Hamid Dabbashi.
Nadim Jarjoura
Nadim Jarjoura was born in Beirut in 1965.
He is working as journalist since 1985 in the Lebanese daily newspaper “as-Safeer”, where he established himself as film critic (since 1994) as well as feature columnist since 1997.
He has published articles and critical essays mainly on cultural issues. He especially dedicated himself to films (Arabic films as well as films from Europe and the USA) and has publications in various Arabic newspapers and magazines, the most prominent of which are the Kuwaiti magazines “al-Arabi” and “al-Kuwait” and the weekly Emirate magazine “Zahrat al-Khalig”.
Books published:
“Questioning one’s own self”, a little book on the Egyptian film director Yusri Nassrallah, Beirut 2001.
“The unfinished chronicle, research into the history of Lebanese films”, published as part of a series on films at the Film Festival in Abu Dhabi in 2004.
“The pierced front, a personal journey to Arab festivals”, published as part of the same series on films in 2006.
Khemais Khayati
Khemais Khayati was born in 1946 in al-Qusur (in the district of Kaf) in Tunis. He studied history (genealogy) at the University of Paris X and degreed with a licence in 1972. He then continued his studies in Arabic Literature at the University of Paris III and in 1973 qualified himself as university teacher of sociology at the University of Paris X. Eventually he did his PhD in Islamic Studies and Arabic Literature at the University of Paris III – Sorbonne Nouvelle in 1983 on «The Cinema and the Egyptian Society in the Films of Salab Abu Saif».
Between 2002 and 2005 Khayati was planner and presenter of the weekly TV programme «The seventh of all kinds of arts» (today «Film hour») in Channel 7 of the Tunisian television, also of the 10-minutes long programme «Films of the Week». 2001 he was planner and presenter of the 36-minutes long programme «Film stories» in Channel 7 and from 2000-2001 of the documentary film «Week of the cinema» about film productions in Tunisia. 2000 he planned the programme «Favourite films of the audience» on Channel 7. Today Khayati is also comunist for the daily newspaper «La Presse».
1999 Khayati was Editor-in-Chief of the weekly TV-magazine «Seven divided by Seven» and has written many essays for the daily newspaper al-Hayat (which is published in London) as well a a column in the French daily «Le Temps». 1998 he was responsible for the feature pages of the newspaper Réalités. From 1997 to 1998 he was correspondent for the newspaper «al-Quds al-Arabi», 1996 he was assistant director of the Media Department at Institut du Mond Arabe in Paris, after he already was director of the news agency there between 1992-1995. From 1975 to 1996 Khayati was commentator of the daily programme «Panorama» at Radio «France Culture» and from 1983 to 1991 he was journalist at the weekly magazine «The seventh day» in Paris. Between 1988 and 1990 he was journalist at the Arabic programme of the stateowned French broadcasting company RFI. From 1987 to 1992 he was journalist, scriptwriter and editor at FR3. In 1978 Khayati founded the magazine «CinemArabe » (12 issues), of which he became Editor-in-Chief. From 1967 to 1969 he was corrector and journalist at the Tunisian magazine «L’Action».
Khayati was member of the Jury for the preselection of films for the Filmfestival in Cannes between 1983-1985 and Vice President of CICT (Conseil. International du Cinéma et de la Télévision) at the UNESO from 1981 to 1988. Before that he was lecturer at the University of Paris III – Sorbonne Nouvelle in the time between 1973 and 1981.
In 2000 Khayati was awarded the prize of best feuilletonist by the Tunisian Journalist Society.
Publications:
Palestine and the Cinema, Paris 1976
Film Criticism, Cairo 1983
The Egyptian Film, Montreal 1986
Salah Abu Saif, an Egyptian Film Director, Paris 1990
Salah Abu Saif, Cairo 1995
The Problems of form of presentation with films in the Palestinian Cinema, Kairo 1995
The Arabic Film, Paris 1996
Stars, whom you can take as an example, Tunis 1998
On search of the movie (Cinema and TV), Tunis 2001
From my Homeland, Paris 2005
Chewing Gum for the Eyes (about Television), Tunis 2005
Mourning of a Camel, a philosophical story for adults (will be published soon).
Co-Publications with other authors:
The Cultural Heritage of the Palestinians, Paris 1979
The Movie in the Arab World, Paris 1996
In Defence of Salman Rushdie, Paris 1996
Magda Wassef
Magda Wassef (filmcritic, General Representative of the Biennial of Arabic Cinema in Paris) studied economy and graduated in business management at the University of Cairo with a baccalaureate in 1968. She continued her studies and graduated in 1976 with a bachelor’s degree in Cinema at the University of Sorbonne in Paris. In 1978 she obtained her Diplôme d’Etudes Approfondies (D.E.A.) at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. She received her PhD in Cinema at same university EHSS (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales) in Paris in the year 1983, with a thesis entitled “The Image of Rural Women in Egyptian Cinema” under the supervision of Prof. Marc Ferro.
Magda Wassef is Head of the Film Department at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris since 1988 and General Representative of the Biennial of Arabic Cinema in Paris (which is sponsored by the Institut du Monde Arabe) from its beginning in 1992 till this day.
From 1978 to 1988 she worked as film critic and was chief editor for publications on “cinema” in the Magazine “Future”. From 1985 till 1991 she gave lectures on Arabic films at the University of Sorbonne in Paris. As film specialist she has taken part in numerous television and radio talk shows on films in France and the Arab world. She was consultant during the organizer of many Arabic and international film festivals, including the International Film Festival in Cairo. As expert in Arabic films she is consultant at the International Film Festival in Cannes since 2004. She represented the UNESCO in numerous international conferences on films and prepared studies for the UNESCO on the subject. She is member of many committees at the Centre national de la cinématographie, which has set itself the task of supporting the production and distribution of films.
Magda Wassef has published a lot of studies on Arabic films. In 1984 she translated the theatre play «A Woman Imprisoned in al-Qanatir“ by Nawal al-Saadawi and in 2002 her memoires „My Memories of the Women’s Prison“ into French. She is editor of the book „Egypte, 100 ans de cinema“ (100 Years of Egyptian Cinema), which was published by the Institut du Monde Arabe in 1995 and won the prix du livre Art et Essai (prize for best non-fiction book on Film) in the year 1996. She is also editor of a biography on „Shadi Abd al-Salam; Pharao of the Egyptian Cinema“ published in 1995.
Magda Wassef was decorated Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1992 and Officier des Arts et des Lettres in 2002.
