Noura Sakkaf

London-based theater and film director Noura Sakkaf was born in Saudi Arabia and has a BA in communication arts from Beirut University College. She was also a master’s degree candidate in theatre arts from Columbia University. She has worked extensively as a theatre director in Lebanon, where she was artistic director of the Theatre de Beyrouth. Sakkaf has also worked in New York and Scotland, where she directed a play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She has also closely collaborated with renowned theater writer and music composer Ziad Rahbani as artistic consultant and stage director for his comeback plays. Recently, she directed the first all-women’s play in Saudi Arabia for the Janadriyya. Sakkaf also runs a production company in London called Legend Productions: she has produced two documentaries through this company including WHEN THE KILLING STOPS, an examination of the civil war in Lebanon and the award-winning IRANIAN JOURNEY, an hour-and-a-half film commissioned by ZDF/Arte. In 2003 Sakkaf co-directed BITTER WATER, a documentary on the living conditions of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. In 2006, Noura Sakkaf directed 3 short films for the Mansoojat foundation and directed SOCOTRA VOICES. In 2008, Sakkaf directed the film Effat and is currently developing three documentary projects and a feature film, which she will produce. Noura is also the creative director of events in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; responsible for conceptualizing and directing all events. (10/09)

Iranian Journey
A film by Maysoon Pachachi, Produced by Noura Sakkaf and Iraj Emami, 1999, 54 min., Color
Massoumeh Soltan Baloghie is the first woman long-distance bus driver in Iran and perhaps in the Islamic world. Iraqi filmmaker Maysoon Pachachi joins...