Ziad Doueiri

Ziad Doueiri, born on October 7, 1963 in Beirut, Lebanon, is a prominent Lebanese film director and screenwriter whose work has earned international acclaim for its bold storytelling and nuanced portrayal of conflict. Growing up amid the Lebanese Civil War, he began experimenting with an 8 mm camera, capturing the everyday turbulence that would later inform his cinematic voice. At the age of twenty he fled the war‑torn country to pursue a formal education in cinema, graduating in 1986 from San Diego State University where he honed both technical skill and artistic vision. Shortly thereafter he entered the Hollywood circuit, working as a camera assistant and cinematographer alongside Quentin Tarantino on iconic films such as Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Till Dawn and Jackie Brown, experiences that sharpened his eye for gritty realism and dynamic visual composition. In 1998 he returned to his roots with the debut feature West Beirut, a semi‑autobiographical drama that captured the fractured identity of a city divided, starring his brother Rami Doueiri and garnering critical praise at festivals worldwide. The success of West Beirut was followed by Lila Says, showcased at Sundance, and later by the politically charged The Attack (2013), a film that sparked controversy for its depiction of Israeli settings and led to bans across much of the Arab world, yet demonstrated his commitment to artistic freedom. His 2017 masterpiece The Insult achieved unprecedented recognition, earning a nomination for Best International Feature Film at the 90th Academy Awards and cementing his status as a leading voice in contemporary Arab cinema. Since 2011 he has divided his time between Los Angeles, Beirut and Paris, continually exploring themes of exile, identity, and the human cost of conflict while mentoring a new generation of filmmakers.