Edition 23: 2–10 August, 2024

TRUTH DOX

DIANA EL JEIROUDI

Diana El Jeiroudi is a documentary filmmaker, editor and screenwriter whose films encapsulate socio-political tensions and contradictions and extend well over time. She started as a filmmaker at age 25 and is best known for her recent feature Republic of Silence (La Biennale di Venezia 2021). Over the years, Diana has supported many careers in cinema and tutored talents through professional film workshops as a long-term supporter of narrative documentary cinema. Her efforts in supporting and advancing the documentary community and culture, notably through establishing DOX BOX in Syria as the most prominent documentary film festival and campus in the region, and then as the Berlin-based documentary film support association, has earned her recognition. She’s a member of several film academies and professional networks and serves repeatedly on film funds committees and festivals juries, most notably the Cannes Film Festival Golden Eye Documentary Award.

EDHEM FOČO

Edhem Fočo was born in 1972 in Sarajevo. He studied in Sarajevo and in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.He had a business career in Malaysia and has gained experience in various business sectors such as Consultancy, Oil & Gas, International Trade, Information Technology and Investments, as well as media. He is credited as the initiator of Al Jazeera’s entry into Balkans and has been a director of Al Jazeera Network in Sarajevo since 2010. In 2018, together with his colleagues, he has initiated AJB DOC, Al Jazeera Balkans International Documentary Film Festival, the most prominent festival of documentary films in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

WIM VANACKER

Wim Vanacker, after studying psychology in Belgium, Wim Vanacker moved to Dublin to work as a psychologist in the field of drug addiction. Three years later, he picked up studying again at EICAR where he made two shorts. After graduating, he discovered NISI MASA –European Network of Young Cinema where he became the Head of the Script Department and the Project manager of the MEDIA funded project, European Short Pitch. For the last five years, he’s been a member of the Selection Committee for the Official Short Film Competition of the Cannes Film Festival. Furthermore, he works as an Editorial Consultant for the First Cut Lab and he’s responsible for the Worksin-Progress in the context of the Red Sea International Film Festival. On the side, he works as a script consultant, creative advisor, programmer, curator and tutor for many workshops, film festivals and projects in development