LADJ LY
2021
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ALI SULIMAN
Palestinian actor Ali Suliman was born in Nazareth in 1977, the son of a family exiled from its village of Safouryia in Galilee during the Nakba of 1948. After graduating from the Levinishtain Acting School in 2000, his first roles were in the theater, playing complex characters including classical drama and comedy. The year 2004 was a milestone in his career with the lead role in Hany Abu Assad’s Paradise Now, winner of a Golden Globe award and nominee for an Academy Award in 2005. The film also launched his international film career.
YASMINE AL MASSRI
Yasmine Al Massri is an International actress and human rights activist whose roles stand out nationally and internationally thanks to her talent in carefully choosing stories and characters that are unconventional and underrepresented on screen. From a Palestinian father and an Egyptian mother, Al Massri was born and raised in Lebanon, then moved to Paris at the age of 20 to study. There she graduated from the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris in multimedia and live performances.
RAED ANDONI
Raed is a Palestinian filmmaker and producer based in Paris, Raed Andoni has been working in independent cinema since 1997. He co-founded Dar Films, a production company based in Ramallah. In 2008, he co-founded Les Films de Zayna, a Paris-based production company. His first feature documentary as a director, Improvisation (2006) has screened in various international festivals. Fix Me (2010), has premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and won several awards in international and Arab film festivals.
STEFANIE SCHULTE STRATHAUS
Stefanie Schulte Strathaus is co-director of Arsenal - Institute for Film and Video Art. From 2006 - 2021 she was the head of the Berlinale section Forum Expanded which she co-founded together with Anselm Franke. Schulte Strathaus has curated a number of film programmes, retrospectives and exhibitions including “Who says concrete doesn’t burn, have you tried? West Berlin Film in the ’80s” and “Live Film! Jack Smith! Five Flaming Days in a Rented World”. In 2011, she launched the ongoing “Living Archive – Archive Work as a Contemporary Artistic and Curatorial Practice” project.
Palestinian Sunbird Shorts Program 1
SON OF THE STREETS
The Palestinian boy Khodor grows up without ID in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut. In the struggle for citizenship, his right to education and health care, harrowing family secrets come to light. Khodor's parents have both died, so he grows up with his stepmother.
Hayat Amjad Labban
Hayat Amjad Labban is a student at Dar Al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture in Film Production. She recently graduated from her theatre studies and now works as a freelance photographer. She practices creative writing in theatre, film and animation, and completed a contemporary dance workshop.
Aya Ahmed Matrabie
Aya Ahmed Matrabie is an audiovisual artist. She was born in 1999 in Gaza, Palestine and recently graduated from the School of Business Administration. She has been doing creative documentary filmmaking independently for more than three years. Her films Dara, The R, and recently Uranus, have screened in several international festivals and received official Selections. As a young Gazan filmmaker, filmmaking is her only means to cross continents.