Director’s Biography
Bassam Mortada studied Independent Film and graduated at the Jesuite
Cairo Cinema School in 2006. He worked as an assistant director for a
number of, documentaries and short, independent fiction films including
‘Vision’ in 2004, ‘Lost & Found’ in 2007 and ‘Summer is our Guest’ in
2008.
Mortada directed his first documentary ‘Helwan House’ in 2006, after which
he directed a number of short documentaries addressing community and
human rights issues, including ‘Women\'s Voices’ and ‘Justice & Fairness’ in
2008, and ‘No Alternative’ in 2009.
He also worked as a technical producer, facilitator and trainer for a number
of film production workshops, including ‘Masochism & Egyptian Society’ in
2010, which produced films like ’Survival of the Fittest’ and ‘Anything but
this’.
In 2008, Mortada joined Al-Masry Media Corporation as a technical
producer where he directed a number of videotaped investigative surveys.
He also co-founded Egypt’s first internet- television through his work at Al-
Masry Corporation, where he trained the newspaper’s editors in a type of
video journalism characterized by the simplicity of equipment, low cost,
and proximity to the event. The experience was a great success. Therefore,
the team have been aproached by a number of NGO’s and Arab newsrooms
in the regional to expand this project and support the independence of new
media journalism.
Reporting…A Revolution
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Mortada discussed Egyptian cinema and social issues through a number of
lectures and seminars including the ‘Cairo Cosmopolitan’ conference. He
also has a number of published articles in this regard.
Mortada directed his first feature documentary ‘Reporting…a revolution’ in
2012.
Director’s Filmography
Director
‘Helwan House’ - Short Documentary (2006)
‘No Alternative’ - Short Documentary (2009)
‘Women Voices’ - Short Documentary (2009)
‘Justice & Fairness’ - Short Documentary (2009)
Technical Producer
‘Survival of the Fittest’ - Short Fiction (2010)
‘Anything but This’ - Short Fiction (2010)
‘In every district, a sheep was born’ - Short Fiction (2010)
‘Notes from Hanafi ElFeel’ – Docu-Drama (2010)
‘Cold Jujube Juice’ - Short Fiction (2010)
Investigative Journalism Director
‘The Execution of Swine: Behind the scenes’ (2008)
‘Deadly Water’ (2009)
‘Displacement of the Prophets Companion’ (2009)
‘Al-Roubiki’ (2009)
‘From the Underground’ (2010)