The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Kal Naga, is an Egyptian actor, director and producer. He is recognized primarily for his work in Egypt and the Middle East, but has increasingly ventured into American and British film and television roles. He started acting and directing plays and musicals in Egypt while studying theatre at The American University in Cairo. Beginning his professional acting career in 2000, Naga starred in several movies through the next decade with roles encompassing several genres, from musicals None but that! (2007), action Agamista (2007), ''Eyes Of A Thief'' (2014), thrillers Kashf Hesab (2007), art-house Heliopolis (2009), Villa 69 (2013), Decor (2014), and slapstick comedy Habibi Naêman (2008). Additionally, he has participated in several European film festivals, where he received a range of awards as an actor and producer. Since 2016, he has acted in several English-speaking roles, such as Tyrant on FX, History Channel's Vikings, and the BBC's TV mini-series The Last Post, and announced to appear in the upcoming Netflix Show Messiah 2019. In a film festival in 2016 that celebrated Arab film submissions to the Oscars, he was noted as being the most submitted actor in Arabic films submissions to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He is often tagged in western media as "Egypt's Brad Pitt", and he has also been described as "the next Omar Sharif" especially after his American debut movie Civic Duty in 2007. Chosen as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF in 2007, Naga played a pivotal role in child rights awareness, as well as the very first HIV awareness campaigns in Egypt and the Arab world, and participated in several international causes, including advocating for democracy in his home country Egypt. He is one of the most recognizable celebrity faces of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, taking part in mass demonstrations in Cairo that led to the removal of President Mubarak. He faced defamation campaigns against him by the state-owned media during the Mubarak era before the January 25th, 2011 revolution in Egypt, and several times again from the 2013 "coup d'etat" General Sisi government in Egypt in retaliation for his advocacy about the deterioration of human rights situation in Egypt.
Saint Joseph University of Beirut is a private Catholic research university in Beirut, Lebanon, founded in 1875 by French Jesuit missionaries and subsidized by the Government of France during the time when Lebanon was under Ottoman rule.
Philippe Aractingi is a Lebanese author, director, producer, actor and photographer. Aractingi is Franco–Lebanese. He has directed more than 70 documentaries and 4 feature films. Two of his films, Bosta and Under the Bombs, were the only Lebanese entries in the 2006 and 2009 Oscar ceremonies, respectively.
Tayeb Saddiki was a Moroccan theatre director and one of the most iconic and prominent Arab artists, and is considered among the foremost Arab dramatists of the twentieth century. Trained in classical Western theater, Saddiki also embraced traditional Moroccan theatrical styles, fusing the two into a path-breaking combination of Western and traditional Moroccan theater. Known for staging spectacles played to large crowds in big arenas, Saddiki developed a style of festive theater that became a popular in the Arab world.
Jurij Leonowitsch Alschitz or Jurij Al'šic is a Ukrainian - German theatre director, acting pedagogue and researcher specialising in applied theatre practice. He is known for developing a comprehensive artistic methodological approach for 21st century dramatic arts, ‘Training as Method’. He is the artistic director of the European Association for Theatre Culture and the World Theatre Training Institute AKT-ZENT/ITI, appointed by the International Theatre Institute as research centre for theatre training methods.
Maroun Bagdadi was a Lebanese film director known for his vivid portrayal of Lebanon's civil war. Bagdadi was internationally the best-known Lebanese filmmaker of his generation. He worked with American producer/director Francis Coppola and made several films in French that became hits in France.
Najwa Barakat is a Lebanese Arab novelist, journalist and film director.
The Abu Dhabi Film Festival, formerly the Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF), was an international film festival held in the city of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 2007 to 2015.
Mounir Rachid Maasri (born. Aley, Lebanon; April 23, 1940), born to Rachid Maasri and Shafiqa Haddad, is an actor, director, writer, and teacher for the Performing Arts. Maasri completed his early education in Lebanon, and travelled to the United States at a young age to continue his studies in the field of Performing Arts.
Theatre in Lebanon has its origin in passion plays. The musical plays of Maroun Naccache from the mid-1800s are considered the birth of modern Arab theatre. Some scholars, such as Abdulatif Shararah, have divided Lebanese theatre into three historical phases centered on 1) translations of European plays, 2) Arab nationalism, and 3) realism.
English Between Me and Me, There Was She, Bayna Ana Wa Ana Hya, is a play written and directed by Jean Daoud. This experimental play denounces violence against women.
Jalal Khoury was a playwright, theatre director, comedian and artistic editor.
Qatar National Theater is located on the Doha Corniche, near Al Bidda Park in Doha, Qatar. The 490-seat theatre opened in 1986 and hosts concerts and plays. In addition to hosting local troupes, it also hosts international and Arab theatrical troupes on occasion.
Kadour Naimi is a film producer, playwright, filmmaker, and writer.
Eliane Raheb is a documentary filmmaker and director from Lebanon. She made her debut as a director with her 2012 film, Layali Bala Noom. Her latest film is Miguel's War from 2021. That film received the Teddy Award for best LGBTW film at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival.
Saudi Theater is a performing art presented on-stage across Saudi Arabia and is overseen by the Saudi Ministry of Culture. The Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts plays a major role in showcasing, fostering, and supporting Saudi theater in all regions of the Kingdom.
Issam Abdel-Masih Mahfouz was a Lebanese playwright, poet, journalist, author, translator, and critic. His literary works include dozens of books on politics, culture, and theater, as well as “dialogues” - imagined exchanges with historical figures. During his lifetime he was also well known as a Professor of Dramatic Arts at the Lebanese University and for his writing in the Lebanese newspaper al-Nahār, particularly its culture section.
Roger Assaf is a Lebanese playwright, director and actor.
The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) (Arabic: الصندوق العربي للثقافة والفنون) is an independent, non-profit NGO that funds individuals and cultural organizations in the Arab region. By awarding grants for partial funding of cultural projects and other forms of support, AFAC facilitates projects in the fields of cinema, performing arts, literature, music and visual arts, and encourages cultural exchange, research and cooperation across the Arab region and globally.
