Amel ALZAKOUT et Khaled ABDULWAHED

Amel Alzakout, born 1988 in Syria, is an artist and film maker based in Leipzig. Between 2010 and 2013 she studied journalism at Cairo University, Egypt. In 2017 she participated with other artists in the video installation TRUST US in the 3rd Herbstsalon at the Maxim Gorki Theater Berlin. Between 2017 and 2018 she studied art at Weißensee Art Academy in Berlin, currently she is studying media art at the Academy of visual art (HGB) in Leipzig, Germany. In 2018 she won together with her co-director Khaled Abdulwahed the Film Prize for International Cooperation Germany/Arab World by the Robert Bosch Foundation with the feature length film PURPLE SEA produced by pong film. It’s her first directing.

Art works: Backyard (2018, assistant director, 26′) Stranger’s Diaries (2019, together with Khaled Abdulwahed, 8-channel video installation, 35′) Purple Sea (2020, 67′)

Khaled Abdulwahed, born 1975 in Syria, is an artist, photographer and filmmaker based in Leipzig. Between 1996 and 2000 he studied Fine Arts and Graphic Design at Adham Ismail art school in Damascus, Syria and at Frederick University in Nicosia, Cyprus. Between 2002 and 2008 he exhibited his artworks in the Middle-east and Europe. Between 2011 and 2013 he directed and produced video artworks which were screened in many art spaces, festivals, universities and TV channels over the world. In 2015 he was invited to Berlinale Talents. In 2018 his short film BACKYARD celebrated its world premiere and won the CNAP (National Centre for Visual Arts) award at FID Marseille.

Art works: Bullet (2011, 2′) Tuj (2012, 2′) Slot In Memory (2013, 2’30”) Backyard (2018, 26′) Stranger’s Diaries (2019, together with Amel Alzakout, 8-channel video installation, 35′)