Hotel Rwanda is a 2004 drama film directed by Terry George. It was adapted from a screenplay co-written by George and Keir Pearson, and stars Don Cheadle and Sophie Okonedo as hotelier Paul Rusesabagina and his wife Tatiana. Based on the Rwandan genocide, which occurred during the spring of 1994, the film documents Rusesabagina's efforts to save the lives of his family and more than 1,000 other refugees by providing them with shelter in the besieged Hôtel des Mille Collines. Hotel Rwanda explores genocide, political corruption, and the repercussions of violence.
Leopold Engleitner was an Austrian conscientious objector, as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and a concentration camp survivor who spoke publicly and with students about his experiences. He was the subject of the documentary Unbroken Will. Before his death Engleitner was the world's oldest known male concentration camp survivor, and the oldest male Austrian.
Baghdad or Bust was a small budget documentary filmed in Canada, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iraq, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and Washington, D.C. USA during the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. Baghdad or Bust was an official selection at several Film Festivals including Hot Docs, the Bergen Film Festival in Norway, and it received the top award for Best Documentary at the 2003 Whistler Film Festival. Baghdad or Bust was described as a funny, poignant take on the war in Iraq, chronicling the misadventures of Gordon and two fellow Yellowknifers as they meander through the Middle East during the U.S. invasion, interviewing such stranger-than-fictional characters as a piratical Kurd and a Turkish rug-monger with a cat named Bush. Armed with a microphone, director Matt Frame's self-effacing and sardonic wit wins the day with his parody of Michael Moore's filmmaking style. "
Ed Kashi is an American photojournalist and member of VII Photo based in the Greater New York area. Kashi's work spans from print photojournalism to experimental film. He is most noted for documenting sociopolitical issues.
Heavy Metal in Baghdad is a 2007 rockumentary film following filmmakers Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi as they track down the Iraqi heavy metal band Acrassicauda amidst the Iraq War.
Jane Phillipa Corbin, Lady Maples is a British journalist and film-maker who has made over a hundred documentaries mainly for the BBC and its current affairs programme Panorama. She specialises in covering Central Asia, the Middle East and terrorism and has investigated many of the major human rights issues and global political and military events over the past three decades.
The Unreturned is a 2010 documentary film by Nathan Fisher. The film tells the story of five middle-class Iraqi refugees caught in an absurdist purgatory of endless bureaucracy, dwindling life savings, and forced idleness. The Unreturned was shot in verité style in Syria and Jordan, with unscripted narration by the refugees in the film. These Iraqis come from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds.
Matteo Barzini is an Italian filmmaker and producer born in Rome in 1981 and raised in Los Angeles, California.
Salaam Dunk is a 2011 American documentary film directed by David Fine about an Iraqi university's women basketball program, spearheaded by a US-born instructor as coach.
Lee Isaac Chung is an American film director and screenwriter. His debut feature Munyurangabo (2007) was an Official Selection at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and the first narrative feature film in the Kinyarwanda language. He also directed the feature films Lucky Life (2010) and Abigail Harm (2012). His semi-autobiographical film Minari (2020) won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. For Minari, he received numerous other major awards and nominations, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Kalyanee Mam is a filmmaker whose film, A River Changes Course, which she directed and produced, has won several awards, including the Grand Jury Award for World Cinema Documentary at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and the Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2013 San Francisco International Film Festival.
The Arlington International Film Festival (AIFF) is an annual nonprofit film festival dedicated to promoting and increasing multicultural awareness and showcases world cinema and independent films in their original language with English subtitles. Independent film producers, directors and actors within the US and abroad are invited to participate in engaging panel discussions and Q&A sessions after the screenings. Each year the festival greets more than 2,000 movie aficionados and shows about fifty films from all over the world with an impressive lineup of premieres. The Arlington International Film Festival also includes a year-round events such as poster contest competitions, pre-festival screenings and art exhibitions with local artists and performances by musicians, singers and dancers.
The Duhok International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Duhok, Kurdistan Region. Each year Duhok IFF presents new and exciting cinema from the Kurdish Cinema and beyond. The 8th edition was held from November 11 to 18, 2021 which focused on Afghanistan.
Fredric Lean is a documentary filmmaker known for his work about social, humanitarian issues and sports related documentaries.
United We Stand is a 2003 feature documentary directed by Matteo Barzini about America's reactions to 9/11 and the Iraq War. The documentary was presented in the New Territories section of the official selection at the 2003 Venice International Film Festival.
Konstantin Friedrich Flemig is a German director of documentary films.
War of Lies is a 2014 German documentary directed by Matthias Bittner.
Kurdistan Region–Syria relations are bilateral relations between Kurdistan Region and Syria. Kurdistan Region and Syria are neighbors, but Kurdistan Region only borders PYD-held Rojava since the Syrian civil war. Kurdistan Region and Syria share two border-crossings, and 208,574 Syrian refugees lived in Kurdistan Region in February 2021.
Simple as Water is a 2021 American documentary film by Oscar-winning director Megan Mylan. The film documents Syrian families across five countries, revealing the impact of war, separation, and displacement. The film is a meditation on the elemental bonds of family told through portraits of four Syrian families in the aftermath of war. Simple as Water premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 20, 2021. It was released on November 16, 2021, on HBO Max.
Born in Dakahlia, Egypt, Ali El Arabi is an Egyptian producer and director. He grew up practicing kickboxing and won Egypt's national kickboxing championship. He became passionate about filmmaking when he moved to Cairo. In 2009, he made his first foray into the filmmaking world when he met some staff members at ZDF channel who discovered his talent. Afterwards, he traveled to Germany to study filmmaking and production and began his career at ZDF channel where he made a number of documentaries on war zones in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Kurdistan.
