Meet the Jury Board of the 2021 5K MENA Filmmaking Grant!
Negar Mojtahedi
Negar Mojtahedi is a journalist and award-winning documentary filmmaker from Vancouver, B.C. Negar is passionate about storytelling and uses her skills to raise awareness, help people and bring about positive representation to combat negative stereotypes. Her first documentary 'My dream goes all the way to Iran' is a powerful portrait of the Iranian expatriate, an immigrant population that is often misunderstood and misrepresented. Negar believes the heart of every story is emotion. She is the proud mother of baby Nousha and her four legged child Pasha.
Mariam Al-Dhubhani
Mariam Al-Dhubhani is a Yemeni-Russian award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and curator. She first pursued her passion for media during the 2011 Arab uprisings and co-founded her first media production. Her films have been screened globally in festivals such as Carthage, Interfilm, and Oaxaca. She also utilizes Virtual Reality in highlighting stories from Yemen.
مريم الذبحاني صحفية وصانعة أفلام وقيِّمة فنية يمنية روسية حاصلة على عدة جوائز. تابعت شغفها في مجال الإعلام لأول مرة خلال الانتفاضات العربية عام 2011 وشاركت في تأسيس أول شركة إنتاج إعلامي لها. تم عرض أفلامها عالمياً في مهرجانات مثل قرطاج وإنترفيلم وواهاكا. كما أنها تستخدم الواقع الافتراضي في تسليط الضوء على قصص من اليمن.
Rolla Tahir
Rolla Tahir is a filmmaker and director of photography based in Toronto. She’s lensed short, narrative and experimental films, which screened across Canada and internationally, including the UK, the States and Guatemala. Obsessed with the durability, longevity and spontaneity of the analog film medium, Rolla has worked with Super 8, 16mm and 35mm to explore the analog process and its possibilities. Her passion in cinematography stems from the need to bring narratives to life, work with visionary creatives and to understand and be understood. Rolla's short film Sira was selected to screen at the 43rd Toronto International Film Festival.
Nural Sumbultepe
Nural was born in a small town in southern Turkey. She holds an MA in Applied Linguistics and an MEd in Social Studies. She lived in 9 countries as an English, Social Studies and Drama teacher in IB schools before she moved to Vancouver. Nural also worked as an instructor at UBC and SFU. Nural has been the Assistant Director and Panel Discussion Coordinator for the Vancouver Turkish Film Festival from its very beginning. She has worked with the SFU Cultural Programs, Doxa and Women in Film and Television, in addition to her current role on the Short Film Selection Committee at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).
Zack Mullone
Zack is a Creole-Texan anthropologist, communicator and musician based in Vancouver. His passion and awareness of film provide space for meaningful, empowering projects across communities through his holistic approach to ethnographic research. He is motivated to provide a platform for unheard under-represented voices and create positive structural changes in North America.
Matthew Broughton
Matthew is a Canadian Director, Writer, Film Journalist, and Film Festival Programmer. His passion and dedication to film turned into writing articles about the craft of filmmaking and film history. He is always on the lookout for new cinematic voices to discover and promote across communities. He is currently a member of the Short Film Selection Committee at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).
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