Jihan El-Tahri

Jihan El-Tahri

Biography

Jihan El-Tahri was born in the Lebanese capital of Beirut and has both Egyptian and French citizenship. In Cairo, she studied political science at the American University, because she was interested in "how decisions are made and how the world is ruled". From 1984 until 1990 she reported from Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan as a news correspondent for Reuters, the Washington Post and the Sunday Times. Since 1990 she has made a great number of documentaries, initially for French television, and also for the BBC since 1995. In 1992 she filmed Osama Bin Laden’s training camp in Sudan.She later made a six-part series called "Israel and the Arabs" (1998), which won her a British TV award. For her documentary about the Saudi royal family (La Maison Saoud, 2004), which was inspired by her research on Bin Laden, she was nominated for a prize at the international Emmy Awards for the second time. The material that Jihan El-Tahri has collected from the extensive research she conducted for her documentary films has also been published in books, including one for which she collaborated with Israeli author Ahron Bregman to document the "50-year war" between Israel and the Arabs. She also received multiple awards for her documentary "Cuba, an African Odyssey" (Cuba – une odyssée africaine). Her achievements were rewarded by an accolade from her fellow filmmakers when they elected her to General Secretary of the "African Filmmakers‘ Guild" in Paris.

jihaneltahri.com

Filmography

Cuba - une odysée africaine (2007): Direction, Screenplay

Behind the Rainbow (2009): Producer, Screenplay, Direction