Di nazionalità francese e (di origine) egiziana, Jihan El-Tahri gira numerosi documentari su temi di attualità sociale e politica per televisioni quali M6 (Marocco), Bbc, Arte, France3, Canal+.

Filmografia
1995-1998 - Holidays in Hell, doc / 1990-2001 - 54 Heures d'angoisse, doc / Histoire d'un suicide : Pierre Bérégovoy, doc / L'Afrique en morceaux: la tragédie des Grands Lacs, doc / La vie malgré tout, doc / 2009 - Behind the Rainbow, doc

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Jihan El Tahri nació en Beirut; es francesa y egipcia. Después de estudiar Ciencias Políticas en la Universidad Americana de El Cairo, fue corresponsal de actualidad política de Oriente Próximo y África. En 1992 filmó los campos de entrenamiento de Osama Bin Laden en Sudán. Escritora, directora y productora, ha producido y dirigido documentales para la televisión francesa y la BBC, con los que ha obtenido numerosos premios y dos nominaciones a los premios Emmy internacionales.

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Jihran El Tahri was born in Beirut, Lebanon. She is both French and Egyptian. In 1984, she received her BA in Political Science, and in 1986 her MA in political Science from the American University in Cairo. She worked as a news correspondent covering politics in the Middle East and Africa with U.S. News, World Report and Reuters, TV researcher, and associate producer in Tunisia, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and Egypt between 1984 to 1990. As a correspondent, El-Tahri covered political events in the Middles East. In 1990, El-Tahri started directing and producing documentaries for French television, and for the BBC since 1995. In 1992 she filmed Osama bin Laden's training camps in Sudan. Writer, director and producer of documentary films, she has produced and directed many lauded documentaries for French television and the BBC, and has been nominated twice to the Emmy Awards. She also provided professional support on four of the "Steps for the Future" films in 2001.
Jihan El Tahri has so far more than twelve films and is winner of many prizes such as many of FESPACO. She has been regional Secretary of FEPACI in 2004, author of two books, is engaged in the different African associations and institutions working with African cinema and is currently, the treasurer of the African guild of Diaspora's filmmakers.
Member of Documentary Film Jury at FESPACO 2011.

What keeps her motivated as an independent filmmaker:

Obsession. Most of the films I make attempt to examine the ways developing countries are not managing to break the vicious cycle of poverty, inequality, and bad governance. I need to understand how liberation heroes who sacrificed their youth for their ideals suddenly become unrecognizable when in power.

Her three favorite films:
Cinema Paradiso by Giuseppe Tornatore
Amores Perros by Alejandro González Iñárritu
Taxi to the Dark Side by Alex Gibney

Her advice for aspiring filmmakers:
You have to choose topics that come from the heart, stories you know that nothing will stop you from pursuing, because it's an uphill battle. Don't give up.

Her most inspirational food for making independent film:
Keep it grilled!

HER FILMOGRAPHY
1990-1994 Algérie: la vie malgré tout (doc) - Abortion in Ireland (doc) - The Spiral Tribe : Rave parties in UK (doc) - Voleurs d'Organes (doc) - Le Coran et la Kalashnikov (doc)
1995-1998 Holidays in Hell (doc) - Israel and the Arabs (doc)
1998 L'Afrique en morceaux: la tragédie des grands lacs (doc)
2000 54 heures d'angoisse (doc)
2001 Histoire d'un suicide : Pierre Bérégovoy (doc)
2002 Regards Croisés sur le Sida (doc)
2003 Humanitarian Crisis?and Then ? (doc) - The Price of Aid (doc)
2004 Les Maux de la Faim (doc) - House of Saud (doc)
2007 Cuba, an African Odyssey (doc)
2009 Behind the Rainbow (doc)