Diana El Jeiroudi

Diana EL JEIROUDI (1977) is a Syrian independent filmmaker and producer. Graduating with a degree in Arts and Humanities from the Damascus University, Syria, she worked for several years in the field of marketing and communication. In 2002, El Jeiroudi co-founded ProAction Film, an independent film production company in Damascus, with her partner Orwa Nyrabia. She also received professional training in film production and distribution at the INA/Sorbonne in France. Her first experimental documentary short film, Pot (2005), premiered at Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and screened in more than 60 countries afterwards, receiving high critical acclaim. She then made her second short documentary Dolls, A Woman from Damascus (2008), which premiered at IDFA. In 2012, she made Morning Fears, Night Chants, co-directed with her long-term collaborator, Syrian photographer and activist Guevara Namer. Republic of Silence (2021), her feature-length documentary debut, was part of the Official Selection of the Venice Film Festival. Together with her partner, El Jeiroudi founded the Dox Box International Documentary Film Festival in Syria. In 2014, they also founded DOX BOX e.V., a non-profit association aimed at the support, promotion and education of a new generation of documentary makers in the Arab world. She has served on the juries of various festivals, including Cannes, IDFA and One World Film Festival in Prague. She is a member of the Deutsche Filmakademie. El Jeiroudi's films have also been shown at art events and venues, including Kunsthalle Wien, Berlin State Museums, Asian Art Biennial in Taiwan.