Mahdi Fleifel

Born in Dubai in 1979, Mahdi Fleifel is a Danish-Palestinian film director. His work often explores themes of social injustice, with a strong focus on the struggles of Palestinians in exile. He lives and works between Denmark, England, and Greece. A graduate of the British National Film and Television School, Fleifel studied Fiction Directing under Stephen Frears and Pawel Pawlikowski. In 2010, he founded the London-based production company Nakba FilmWorks. Fleifel's critically acclaimed debut feature, A World Not Ours, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win over 30 awards, including the Berlinale Peace Prize, as well as the Grand Jury Prizes at Edinburgh, Yamagata, and DOC:NYC. He was named Best New Nordic Voice at Nordisk Panorama and received the New Talent Award at CPH:DOX. In 2016, Fleifel won a Silver Bear for A Man Returned, which was also nominated for the European Film Awards that same year. His follow-up, A Drowning Man, was selected for the Official Competition at Cannes and later nominated for a BAFTA. I Signed the Petition won Best Documentary Short at IDFA and was nominated for the 2018 European Film Awards. His short film 3 Logical Exits premiered in the 2020 Tiger Shorts Competition at IFF Rotterdam.