Hala Lotfy is a director, producer, and the founder of Hassala Films collective. Born in 1973, and based in Cairo. She studied economics and political science in Cairo University in 1995. She then studied filmmaking at the Cairo Film Institute and graduated with honors in 1999. Her feature fiction debut ‘Coming Forth by Day’ was premiered in Abu Dhabi Film Festival 2012, it won many awards including the FIPRESCI, and Best Director from the Arab World at Abu Dhabi FF, and was screened in more than 50 film festivals around the world. The film joined the “Greatest 100 Arab Films” list made by Dubai IFF after less than one year of its production. As a Producer she produced her feature debut ‘Coming Forth by day’, and Between 2013 & 2018, she produced five feature length documentaries including ‘Um Ghayeb’ by Nadine Salib, ‘Little Eagles’ by Mohammad Rashad. In 2018 she finished producing her second feature fiction ‘Ext. / Night’ by the Egyptian Director Ahmad Abdalla and was premiered in TIFF. In 2022, she produced two feature length documentaries; ‘Light Upon Light’ by Christian Suhr, and ‘My Lost Country’ by Ishtar Yasin. In 2023, she produced her third feature fiction, ‘The Settlement’, by Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Rashad.

Mahmoud Lofti is an Egyptian cinematographer. Born in Cairo on the 3rd of March 1985. He studied cinematography at Cairo Film School and graduated in 2007. In 2009, he shot His debut feature-length film  “Heliopolis” by Ahmad Abdalla. He shot a number of award-winning short and feature fiction films, documentaries and TV drama series directed by a number of renowned filmmakers including Mohamed Khan, Khairy Beshara, Hala Lotfy, Ayten Amin, Mohamed Hushki and Bassam Mortada. He  taught cinematography and lighting at the Cinema School of Cairo Jesuit from 2008 till 2016 during of which he also shot a number of short films by Jesuit alumni and young independent filmmakers as well as video art projects by several visual artists including Moaataz Nasr El Din. He shot many feature documentaries, travel series in Africa for Al Jazeera Documentary Chanel from 2017 till 2021. His awards include; 2013 Thessaloniki Film Festival (Alexander Bayne), and a special Mention for cinematography in “Coming Forth By Day”.

Heba Othman is an Egyptian editor with an impressive portfolio in feature films, including ‘Goodbye Julia’ in 2023, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The Palestinian film ‘Thank You for Banking with Us’ in 2024, set to have its world premiere in the official competition of the BFI London Film Festival. ‘Coming Forth by Day’ in 2012, showcased at Berlin. ‘Out of Order’ in 2015, earning her the Best Editing Award from Egypt’s Film Assembly, and ‘You Will Die at Twenty’ in 2019, which received the Lion of the Future Award at Venice. In 2020, she edited ‘Curfew’, debuting at the Cairo International Film Festival, and in 2023, she worked on ‘The Burdened’, also featured at the Berlin Film Festival. She is currently working on the Egyptian film “The settlement”, directed by Mohamed Rashad.

Abdallah Al-Ghaly is a Libyan-Egyptian editor, scriptwriter, and director. Born in Alexandria, Egypt 1985. Studied filmmaking and Animation at Cairo Cinema Institute, and graduated with honors in 2007. Worked as a storyboard artist, and animator in some of the major animation studios in Egypt.

He worked as an editor, sound mixer, and color grader in many feature documentaries for Al Jazeera channel. He was a scriptwriter for the TV drama series ‘Haza Al Masaa’ and ‘Ghooma Fares Al Sahraa’. ‘El Bastardiya (Once Upon A Time In Tripoli)’ is his first feature fiction film, currently in the development phase.

Mona Lotfy studied psychology at Suez canal university 2002. Studied filmmaking at the Jesuit Cultural Center between 2010-2012 where she wrote and directed five shorts. Her short film “Walk in the Grey Sun” was an official selection at AFF Rotterdam and other festivals.

Currently working on her first feature documentary ‘Al Maghara, A Wilderness of dreams’, has developed in Docmed program 2013, Dubai Film Market 2013, Berlinale Talents 2014, Doc Campus 2014 and was nominated for the Robert Bosch Stiftung prize 2015.

Mohamed Rashad was born in Alexandria, Egypt and began working in filmmaking in 2005. He wrote and directed two short fiction films: ‘From Afar’ in 2005 and ‘Maxim’ in 2007. Afterwards, he worked as an assistant director on numerous films. Alongside Hala Lotfy and other filmmakers, he co-founded the independent production company Hassala Films, dedicated to producing feature-length debut projects for talented young artists. In 2016, Rashad completed his first feature documentary, ‘Little Eagles’, which premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival 2016 as an official selection. In 2019, he produced the feature documentary ‘The Profession’, directed by Ramez Youssef. The film was screened at various Arab film festivals. In 2021, Rashad co-produced ‘Behind a Transparent Cement Barrier’ by Amr Baioumy, which was part of the official selection at the Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts 2021. He is currently directing and overseeing the post-production of his first feature fiction film, ‘The Settlement’.

Nadine Salib is an Egyptian filmmaker with more than sixteen years of experience in the field of cinema and film studies, having earned her Cinema degree in 2006. In 2012, she made her directorial debut with her short documentary ‘Fagr’ or ‘Dawn’, which won a number of awards. Following up, her desire for creation brought forth her first feature-length documentary, ‘Um Ghayeb’, translates into ‘Mother of the Unborn’, which she wrote, and directed. It was released in 2014 and garnered several awards, such as the Peter Wintonick Special Jury Award for the First Appearance competition at IDFA, the FIPRESCI for Best Documentary at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. In 2015, she started working as a film professor/tutor in many educational institutes, including the Jesuit Film school, and the British University in Egypt. Her debut feature length fiction ‘The Land Beyond’ has already gained international recognition by winning several prestigious development grants. It is a co-production between both Hassala films and Cinephilia productions.

Muhammad Mustapha, a Cairo-based filmmaker, has worked since 2011 as a director, scriptwriter, editor, assistant director, and line producer on numerous films. In 2015, he created the cinéma-vérité documentary ‘Tashkeel’, co-produced by Cimatheque Cairo and Ateliers Varan, which won Best Documentary Short at Rencontres de l’Images.

In 2022, he co-wrote and edited ‘Light upon Light’, premiering at CPH:DOX. His debut feature ‘Big Boys Don’t Cry’, now in post-production, won the Robert Bosch Stiftung Film Prize at Berlinale 2020 and received backing from the Red Sea Film Fund, Doha Film Institute, Arab Cultural Resource, and Film Independent.