COCOON FILMS | UK Arab Cinema Center

COCOON FILMS | UK

TWELVE-MONTH HIGHLIGHT(S):
Cocoon Films (previously Cactus World Films until it’s rebranding in 2020 ) is a London-based independent production company that was founded in 2007 by Sawsan Asfari and Maya Sanbar with the aim of making visible challenging issues in the Middle East - from the complications of refugee life to the daily living struggles of the Arab world. Sawsan is currently producing Farah Nabulsi’s debut feature film THE TEACHER.

SAWSAN ASFARI

FOUNDER AND MANAGER

LEBANESE

CAREER HIGHLIGHT(S):
A seasoned producer, Sawsan became a partner in 2019 in Louverture Films, the independent US based production company founded by Joslyn Barnes and actor Danny Glover. At Cocoon, among the films she has been involved with producing are Annemarie Jacir’s WAJIB and WHEN I SAW YOU, SALT OF THIS SEA; Hany Abu-Assad’s THE IDOL and HUDA’S SALON; and the documentary AQUARELA by Victor Kossakovsky, which premiered at Venice and was Academy-shortlisted in 2019.