Diana El Jeiroudi

Diana El Jeiroudi ديانا الجيرودي
Born	Damascus, Syria
Years active	2002—present
Spouse(s)	Orwa Nyrabia
Awards	Katrin Cartlidge Award (2012) European Documentary Award (2012)

Diana El Jeiroudi (a.k.a. Diana Aljeiroudi), (Arabic: ديانا الجيرودي‎; born 15 January 1977) is an independent Syrian documentary film director, producer and co-founder of DOX BOX International Documentary Film Festival in Syria.

Education and career

El Jeiroudi graduated with a degree of English Literature from the Damascus University, Syria. From 1998 to 2002, El Jeiroudi worked in Marketing and Advertising before starting up Proaction Film, an independent film production outfit in Damascus, with her partner Orwa Nyrabia. El Jeiroudi also received professional training in film producing and distribution at the INA/Sorbonne in France

Her first film as director, The Pot (2005), a short documentary film, was screened in more than 60 countries, and received high critical acclaim.^[1]

Her second film was entitled Dolls, A Woman from Damascus (2008), was premiered in IDFA and screened in more than 40 countries worldwide.^[2] Dolls, A Woman from Damascus was very well received by critics too, CounterPunch wrote: "Sometimes there is a film that encapsulates all the tensions and contradictions of a people and a state. This is the merit of Diana El Jeiroudi’s documentary film about the situation of women, the advent of consumer society and the growing influence of Muslim fundamentalism in Syria." ^[3]

El Jeiroudi's films were also shown in art events and venues, including Kunsthalle Wien, Berlin State Museums, Taipei Art Biennial, among others.

In her other capacity, as a documentary film promoter and trainer, El Jeiroudi heads DOX BOX's professional activities side, through which she managed to make the festival the region's most remarkable documentary film platform.^[4] She and her partner Orwa Nyrabia, launched DOX BOX in early 2008. The international documentary film festival grew quickly into the most important documentary film gathering in the Arab World.^[5] The festival started with screenings in Damascus cinemas but from 2009 on screenings were expanded to other Syrian cities including Homs and Tartus. Along with the annual festival, many workshops and activities were offered to young Syrian filmmakers. The fifth edition of the festival, planned for March 2012, was cancelled in protest of the Syrian government's crackdown on protesters during the on-going Syrian uprising. Instead, Nyrabia advocated for Syrian documentary films to be shown in festivals around the world in what was termed the "Dox Box Global Day." The aim, according to the DOX BOX website, was to show "how poverty, oppression and isolation do not prevent humans from being spectacularly brave, stubborn and dignified."^[6] His work with DOX BOX earned her and her partner, Orwa Nyrabia, several awards including the Katrin Cartlidge Award and the European Documentary Network's Award in 2012.^[5]

References