CAREER HIGHLIGHT(S):
Talal Derki is a Syrian Kurdish director, producer, and screenwriter. He studied film directing in Athens at the Stavrako High Institute of Cinematographic Art and Television, graduating in 2003. Derki’s short films and documentaries have received awards at various festivals In 2014, his feature documentary RETURN TO HOMS won the Sundance Festival’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize and he was invited to join that year’s international Jury at the IDFA documentary festival in Amsterdam. Derki’s OF FATHERS AND SONS was nominated for the Best Feature Documentary Oscar at the 92nd Academy Awards in 2019 after winning a slew of major honours including a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, the prize for Best Documentary at the German Film Awards and also the Critics’ Award for Arab Films.

TWELVE-MONTH HIGHLIGHT(S):
His latest documentary UNDER THE SKY OF DAMASCUS, which he co-directed with Heba Khaled and Ali Wajeeh, premiered at the Berlinale and was described as having “plenty of strength and sensitivity” as it chronicles the oppression faced by women in Syria. The documentary also won the Golden Alexander Prize in the international competition of the 25th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.