Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi

Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi

With no end to the bloodshed in Syria in sight, the number of registered Syrian refugees is estimated to surpass 3 million in September 2014. To highlight the challenges Syrian women are facing in exile, the Heinrich Böll Foundation North America will screen the award-winning documentary Not Who We Are in Washington DC, New York City and Boston in cooperation with several partner organizations.

Not Who We Are, a gripping documentary by Lebanese filmmaker Carol Mansour, follows five young Syrian refugee women in Lebanon to tell their story of hardship, identity and the value of community. The documentary was selected as Best Documentary at the Rated SR- Socially Relevant Film Festival in NY, 2014, and received the Jury's Special Mention at the Festivale Internationale du Film Orientale a Geneve (FIFOG), 2014.

Filmmaker Carol Mansour and co-producer Muna Khalidi will join us for the screenings and subsequent panel discussions.

 

CAROL MANSOUR

BIOGRAPHY

Carol Mansour founded Forward Film Production in 2000 in Beirut, Lebanon. With over 20 years in documentary production, Mansour has covered the world from Sri Lanka to Lebanon to Uzbekistan. She has achieved international recognition and honor for her films, with over thirty film festival screenings and official selections worldwide.

Her films have won numerous prestigious awards including Jury’s Prize at the Institute du Monde Arab in Paris and Best Documentary at the Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam. More recently, her film on the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon “A Summer Not To Forget” received Best Short International Documentary at the New Zealand Festival.

Carol’s work reflects her concern for human rights and social justice, covering issues such as migrant workers, refugees, environmental issues, mental health, war and memory, right to health, and child labor.

Prior to launching Forward Film Production, Carol has produced, directed and hosted numerous live entertainment, magazine, and travel programs for Future Television in Beirut, Lebanon.

Carol  is Lebanese of Palestinian origin.  She studied in Montreal, Canada, and is currently living and working from Beirut, Lebanon.

WEBSITE

www.forwardfilmproduction.com

 

MUNA KHALIDI

BIOGRAPHY

Muna Khalidi holds a Ph.D. in health policy and planning and has more than 25 years experience working in social and health development in Lebanon and the region. Throughout her career, she has worked with various development and health organizations, assisting them to design and develop programs and strategic planning. In 2011, she started collaborating with Carol Mansour on the research and production of documentary films dealing with issues of social justice and human rights, bringing her experience in the academic, public, private, and NGO sectors into the documentary-making field.

So far, she has worked closely with Carol Mansour on three feature-length documentary films: “Where do I begin”, on mental health in Lebanon; “We Want to Know”, on the memory of the Lebanese civil war among the new generation; and “Not Who We Are”, on the plight of Syrian refugee women. Carol and Muna are currently finalizing a documentary on the Palestinian refugees from Syria who have been displaced a second time when fleeing to Lebanon.

Muna is on the Board of Directors of three national NGOs which implement programs mainly within the Palestinian refugee communities in Lebanon.