Jihan El-Tahri

Jihan El Tahri is an award-winning director, writer, visual artist and producer. In 2017, El Tahri was invited to join the Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Oscars) and has served on various selection committees including Locarno Film Festival, Jeune Creation Francophone, Le Fond Franco-Tunisien and others. She has served on numerous juries including president of the Documentary Jury at FESPACO 2021. As a film mentor, she has worked with Focus Features (US) Documentary Campus (Germany), Ouaga Film Lab (Burkina Faso), Qumra (Qatar) Sud Ecriture (Tunis) and other training labs. As a visual artist she exhibited in international biennials. El Tahri started her career as a foreign correspondent in Middle East. Since 1990 she has directed and produced documentaries for the BBC, PBS, Arte and other international broadcasters. Her award-winning documentaries include “Nasser”, which premiered in the official selection at Toronto International Festival, “Behind the Rainbow”, “Cuba, an African Odyssey” and the Emmy nominated “House of Saud”. Her writings include “Les Sept Vies de Yasser Arafat” and “Israel and the Arabs, The 50 Years War”. El Tahri engaged in various associations and institutions working with African Cinema. She served as treasurer of the Guild of African Filmmakers in the Diaspora, an advisor on Focus Feature’s Africa First Program and as regional secretary of the Federation of Pan African Cinema (FEPACI).