Jehane Noujaim

Born to an American father and Egyptian mother, Noujaim spent the majority of her childhood in Kuwait and Cairo, Egypt. She moved to Boston in 1990 to attend Harvard, and eventually went on to earn a dual degree in visual arts and philosophy from there. After college Noujaim took a job with "UNfiltered" (MTV 1993-96), a highly-acclaimed documentary news program with a focus on current events. After a few years working for the show, Noujaim left to direct "Startup.com," a documentary about a burgeoning Internet startup and its ultimate downfall. The film was widely acclaimed, winning Best Documentary at the Director's Guild of America Awards. Noujaim's next film focused on U.S. Central Command's involvement with Al Jazeera and various other news sources in the lead-up to the 2003 American invasion of Iraq. That film, "Control Room," premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews. Noujaim directed three more documentaries over the next 10 years, "Storm from the South" (2006), "Rafea: Solar Mama" (2012), and "The Square." "The Square" would prove to be Noujaim's most personal film to date, with its focus on the ongoing revolution in Egypt. In 2014 "The Square" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, but lost to the musical documentary "Twenty Feet from Stardom" (2013).