4th Edition SUNBIRD STORIES 2023
FILMS FOR ARAB YOUTH & CHILDREN

Official Selection Sunbird Stories 2023:

Sanaam, by Mahmoud Assi (writer/ director), Mark Lotfy (producer); Egypt
Little Zoe and Chill by Jamil Lahham; Syria/ Canada
Zizou by Khaled Moeit (writer/ director), Ahmad Sobhy and Marwa Tammam (producers); Egypt
Goodbye Habibi by Mohammed Elsherif (writer/ director); Palestine/USA
Jad’s Mistake by Hiba Chaari (writer/ director), Bahija Essoussi and Samuel Gagnon (producers); Morocco
The Bulldozer by Mira Sidawi (writer/ director); Palestine/ Lebanon

Program mentors, speakers, and jury members will be announced soon.

3rd Edition SUNBIRD STORIES 2022
FILMS FOR ARAB YOUTH & CHILDREN

2nd Edition SUNBIRD STORIES 2021
FILMS FOR ARAB YOUTH & CHILDREN

Official Selection Sunbird Stories 2021

. Ginger by Ahlam Bsharat and Mohamed Abu Maliq (Palestine)
. The Red Stripe by Samer Battikhi and Hayat Abu Samra (Jordan)
. Flying Salama by Mohamed Kassaby and Mohamed Kateb (Egypt)
. A Whale eats a whole kingdom of fish by Morad Mostafa and Seif El Deen Konsowa (Egypt)
. The Great Fixer by Farah Chaya and Bassel Mamoun (Lebanon)

Program Mentors
Darine Hotait (Screenwriting/Directing)
Dina Emam (producing)

Guest Speakers
Amjad Abu Alala (directing/writing)
Cherien Dabis (directing/writing)
Heba Othman (editing)
Rana Eid (sound)

1st Edition SUNBIRD STORIES 2020
FILMS FOR ARAB YOUTH & CHILDREN

PROGRAM MENTORS

Screenwriting Mentor: Darine Hotait
Darine Hotait is a writer, film director, and the founder of Cinephilia Productions. Her films can be seen on SundanceTV, AMC Networks, BBC Channel, ShortsTV, and at over a hundred international film festivals. She is the recipient of the prestigious New York Council on the Arts Artist Award, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship IAP, the AFAC Cinema Grant and a Goethe Award. She has mentored labs and residencies such as Cinephilia labs, FFFMed, Sundance Institute Care Program, NYFA Immigrant Artist Program, and more.

Producing Mentor: Dina Emam
Named one of Variety's 10 Producers to Watch in 2018, Dina Emam is an Egyptian-American film producer and educator working between New York and Cairo. Her first feature, Yomeddine, had its world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in the Main Competition, and was Egypt’s submission for the 91st Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In addition to producing, she teaches filmmaking/producing workshops and masterclasses for aspiring filmmakers in the US and the MENA region. Prior to becoming a film producer, Emam worked in television market research and production management at MTV Networks in New York City. Emam holds a BS from New York University's Stern School of Business in Marketing and International Business and an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University's School of the Arts. She has previously served as an AmeriCorps volunteer. Emam is currently a participant of the 2020 Creative Producer Indaba program for African producers (developed by Realness Institute in partnership with Sundance Institute, International Film Festival Rotterdam and EAVE).

Guest Consultant (Screenwriting) : Joseph Fahim
Joseph Fahim is an Egyptian film critic and programmer. He is the Arab delegate of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, a former member of Berlin Critics' Week and the ex director of programming of the Cairo International Film Festival. He co-authored various books on Arab cinema and has contributed to numerous outlets in the Middle East, including Middle East Institute, Al Monitor, Al Jazeera, Egypt Independent and The National (U.A.E.), along with international film publications such as Verite. To date, his writings have been published in five different languages.

PROGRAM GUEST SPEAKERS: DIRECTING SEGMENT

Oualid Mouaness is an independent Lebanese-American writer, director and producer.In 2004, he took on the critically acclaimed documentary 'Rize' (Sundance 2005) directed by David LaChapelle, and followed it by 'Paris Not France' (TIFF 2008). Alongside producing documentaries and films, Mouaness produced seminal music videos for artists including Taylor Swift, Katie Perry, Justin Timberlake and Lana Del Rey, and David Bowie.Mouaness' diverse work balances issue-driven material as well as entertainment. His projects cover a wide spectrum of media and visual experiences; namely Michael Jackson's posthumous live performance at the Billboard Music Award, 'Slave to the Rhythm' (2014); Annie Lennox's 'Nostalgia' (2015) for PBS which garnered an Emmy nomination for live stage direction by Natalie Johns and more recently, the socially aware Audience Award-Winning documentary 'I Am Thalente' at the Los Angeles Film Festival 2015, released in 2016. Mouaness directed 'The Rifle, The Jackal, The Wolf and The Boy' (2016-Lebanon).  His award winning debut feature film “1982” premiered in 2019.

Fernando Eimbcke
Born in Mexico City, Fernando Eimbcke completed his cinematography studies in 1996 at the Universitary Center for Cinematographic Studies of the National University, Mexico. In 2004, Eimbcke wrote and directed his first feature film Temporada de Patos (Duck Season) which was selected in the 43 Critics’ Week and in 90 international festivals. The film was released in the United States by Alfonso Cuarón and Warner Independent. In 2006, Eimbcke and Paula Markovitch co-wrote Lake Tahoewhich participate in the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and was granted by the Sundance /NHK award. In 2008 the film compete in the Oficial Selection andwon the FIPRESCI and ALFRED BAUER prizes at the 58 Berlin International Film Festival. His film Club Sandwich(2013) won Best Director at the 61 San Sebastian Film Festival and Best Film at the 31 Torino International Film Festival. His feature film project “The Diary of an Elephant” was invited to participate in the Berlinale Residency 2015. Fernando Eimbcke lives in Berlin where he’s developing his following feature film project and a TV series.

JURY MEMBERS “SUNBIRD STORIES PRODUCTION PRIZE”

Suha Araj is a Palestinian American film director. Her film The Cup Reader, shot in Palestine, screened at the Tribeca Film Festival and was awarded The Next Great Filmmaker Award at the Berkshire International Film Festival. She has received support for her work from the Sundance Film Festival, Torino Film Lab, Independent Filmmaker Project, Berlinale Talent Project Market, Center for Asian American Media and Cine Qua Non Lab. She is the 2018 recipient of Tribeca/Chanel Through Her Lens production funding for her new film Rosa. Rosa premiered at the Blackstar Festival in 2020 and was the recipient of the Best Short Narrative and the Lionsgate/Starz short film award. 

Aya Al Blouchi assumed the role of Young Audience Coordinator in Beirut at Metropolis Art Cinema Association. In 2013, Al Blouchi joined the Doha Film Institute in Qatar as Youth Programmes Specialist, and is a core programmer for the annual Ajyal Film Festival. Driven by a passion to contribute to a sustainable film industry ecosystem in the region, she started to finance and produce various shorts and feature-length films working closely with emerging filmmakers.

Abu Bakr Shawky is an Egyptian-Austrian filmmaker. He studied Political Science at the American University in Cairo and received and MFA in Film production from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. His graduation project at Tisch was his debut feature YOMEDDINE, which premiered in 2018 in the Main Competition of Cannes Film Festival. The film received the Francois Chalais Award in Cannes and was Egypt's official submission for the 91st Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film. in 2018, Shawky was named by Variety as MENA Talent of the Year and was listed by Forbes Magazine among the top five Arab directors on the global stage.