Yasmine Al Masri

Yasmine Al Masri is an International actress, dancer and video artist.

Early life and education

Yasmine Al Masri was born to a Palestinian father and Egyptian mother. She moved to Paris to live and study, and in 2007 graduated from École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts[1] in multimedia and performance.

In 2009 she trained in musical theatre under Peter Knopp at the Central School of Speech and Drama, London. Later she held an educational workshop on performance, identity and dance, called 'Feel, Think... React', at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival.

Career

Masri's interdisciplinary artistic career began in 2000 when she joined the Souraya Baghdadi dance company in Paris,[1] in which she developed her dance style through an exploration of flamenco, salsa, Arabic, African and world folk dance forms.

She performed in the videos In Between, Boum...Tac (2006) and Le Patient et le Client[1] that were screened at the Georges Pompidou Centre, Festival La Rochelle and Côté court Film Festival in France, the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Greece, and Née a Beyrouth, Lebanon.

Her big screen debut was in the role of "Nisrine" in the Lebanese movie Caramel, directed by Nadine Labaki. The film was presented at, and "shocked", the 2007 Cannes Film Festival,[2] For Caramel she received the Best Actress Award at the 2007 Abu Dhabi Film Festival, and the same year a Best Actress nomination at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Following Caramel she was cast as "Yasmine" in the 2007 Oscar-nominated French short Manon sur le Bitume, written and directed by Elizabeth Marre and Olivier Pont.[1]

In 2008 Masri played "Mina" in Ayrouwen, directed by Ibrahim Tsaki, for which she learnt the language of the Tuareg people. The same year Palestinian director Najwa al Najjar offered her the role of "Kamar" in Pomegranates and Myrrh, starring Ali Suliman, which received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival – for her performance she won the Best Actress Award in the 2010 Muscat International Film Festival. Following this she was cast as "Nadia" in the 2010 film Miral, an adaption of Rula Jebreal's autobiography, directed by Julian Schnabel and starring Hiam Abbass, Asma Al Shiukhy, and Willem Dafoe.[1]

Her most recent work was as the main protagonist's ex-wife in The Last Friday, written and directed by Yahya Alabdallah and starring Ali Suliman.[3] The movie opened at the 2011 Dubai International Film Festival.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Yasmine Al Massri - Biographie", Canalplus.fr
  2. ↑ Santiago, Patricia, Abet (27 April 2010): "La cultura es la mejor forma de superar los clichés entre occidente y el mundo árabe". ABC (Spanish)
  3. ↑ Simon, Alissa (15 December 2011): "The absurdities and complexities of life in contempo Amman are presented with pleasingly understated humor in The Last Friday", Variety

External links