Mai Masri (b. 1959) is a Palestinian filmmaker largely based in Lebanon. Masri received a degree in film production from San Francisco State University. She has directed and produced several award-winning films that have been broadcast and shown internationally. Her films focus on Palestine and Lebanon, more specifically on Palestinians living in Lebanese refugee camps. Several of Masri's films concentrate on the arduous lives of Palestinian children-a largely unheard and ignored voice.
Her films are about ordinary people living in extraordinary times and how they manage to survive and hold onto their humanity despite the devastating situations in which they find themselves. The characters in her films bear a resemblance to her; they speak for her. She lives out her dreams and fears through them. They are not passive victims. Each of the women in her films is rebelling against one form of injustice or another.
Her films are the antitheses of the stereotypes that dehumanize, demonize and dismiss the Palestinians as a people without legitimate rights.
She has directed, filmed and edited several award-winning documentaries, which have been broadcast on more than 100 television stations around the world including BBC, Channel 4, PBS, France 2, SBS, YLE, MBC and NHK. With her husband, filmmaker Jean Chamoun, she set up Nour productions and MTC.
Filmography
