Myriam Rey

Myriam is a French-Syrian artist and filmmaker. Her practice focuses on using oral testimony and embodied visuality to explore themes of loss, belonging and memory. She has worked on projects involving creativity, wellbeing and communities for several years in the UK, France and Lebanon. She began making films while studying medical anthropology at University College London. 

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Myriam’s films have been awarded Best Video Poem at the Los Angeles Film & Video Poetry Symposium (2020), Best Short Documentary at Nova Frontier Film Festival in New York (2019),  Honourable Mention at Sunderland Shorts Film Festival (2018) and the Inspiration Award at the AHRC Film Festival (2015). They have screened at festivals including Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Aesthetica Short FF,  Edinburgh Int. FF, London Short FF, Encounters FF, Beirut Int. FF and Images Festival amongst others. Her work has been exhibited at institutions including the New Art Exchange, UK (2023), The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, UK (2021) and Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2020).

Fridoon Joinda

Fridoon Joinda is a speaker, UN award-winning filmmaker, founder and director of Joinda Production, a video production entity focused on questions of social justice. He grew up in Kabul, Afghanistan, and was forced to flee in 2016 due to his previous media work. His story begins in Moria camp, an experience which led him to become a human rights advocate.

Through his films and speeches, he aims to inspire integration, to challenge negative perceptions of refugees, to advocate for refugee rights, and to influence citizens and EU policy-makers.

In 2017, he received a scholarship from The American College of Greece, and he will earn his BA degree in Communications and Journalism this June. He also received a scholarship from Harvard University for their Summer Course in Refugee and Migration studies last year. He has just started a podcast, “The Untold,” looking at the refugee experience from a 360-degree perspective.

Saeed Mayahy

Saeed Mayahy is an Iranian film director, born in Bushehr South of Iran . He graduated from Bushehr Film School and immediately began working on an animation titled Swan Lake as a director. Over the years, he has produced five documentaries and one animation, earning numerous international awards, including the Audience Award at the Academy Award-qualifying festival, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival.

A common theme in Saeed Mayahy's films is his use of the film medium to explore and depict both hidden and visible boundaries within society. His films often reflect the paradoxical distinctions between life in private and public spheres, and the inevitable enmeshment of individual identity between these conflicting forces.

Saeed Mayahy entered the documentary field with the Don't Worry, Be Happy project, which centers on an erotic illustrator in Iran who gained fame through his erotic art. Saeed followed his subject for almost ten years and he is wrapping up the final shooting session. Subsequently, he embarked on a short documentary titled Finish Line, which depicts an Iranian female athlete who has to face many problems as a woman in Iran

In 2019, Saeed emigrated to Turkey and restarted his career there, producing two documentaries: Game Over and Transformation. These documentaries shed light on the stories of Afghan refugees in Istanbul following the Taliban's rise to power in August 2021. Both films received numerous awards worldwide, with Game Over being recognized as the Best National Turkish Documentary of 2023