Nezar Andary is a writer, filmmaker and Associate Professor at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi. Andary is co-editor of the book series Focus on Arab Cinema for Palgrave MacMillan. He co-authored The Cinema of Muhammad Malas: Vision of a Syrian Auteur (Palgrave, 2018), one volume in the series, with Samirah Alkassim and completed a manuscript on the influence of Ibn Khaldun in contemporary global culture titled ‘Confronting the Symbol of the Intellectual’. His article ‘Homage to Anthony Shadid: Literature of a Journalist’ (2017) was published in Alif, and his work has also appeared in Banipal, Al-Jadid, Journal of Middle East Studies and Emergences. Andary is currently working on the feature film Opening the Doors of Cinema, and he has produced eight short documentaries with the Arab Film Studio and Image Nation Abu Dhabi. He has also directed the documentary theatre production Memories of Childhood with the Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation (2016). He received a BA in History and English Literature from Columbia University, New York (1994), an MA in Comparative Literature and Film Studies from UCLA (1999) and a PhD from UCLA (2008). Born in 1972 in Michigan, US, he currently lives and works in Abu Dhabi. SAF participation: Sharjah Film Platform (December 2019)