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An Egyptian award-winning filmmaker based in Berlin and the founder of Cleo Media for female-driven content production and impact distribution in Alexandria. Since 2010, she has been working as a film director, producer, impact producer, editor, and cinematographer. In 2020, she achieved critical acclaim for her award-winning feature documentary, Lift Like A Girl, which she directed and produced. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and received the Golden Dove Award for Best Film at Dok Leipzig, three awards at the Cairo International Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Award for the Critics Awards for Arab Films. The film was co-produced with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel and it was the first Egyptian documentary to be distributed on Netflix worldwide. Prior to this success, in 2016, she directed, produced, and edited the short film A Stroll Down Sunflower Lane, which was screened at the Berlinale and AFI Fest. The film was also recognized by receiving the Best Experimental Film award at the Sharjah Film Platform. As an editor, she edited the feature documentary, I Have a Picture, that received the Best Arab Documentary Award in El-Gouna Film Festival and the Best Documentary Award in the Tripoli Film Festival in 2018. Also, in 2014, she had the opportunity to work as a cinematographer on the feature film Veve which was produced by the renowned German filmmaker Tom Tykwer. Additionally, in 2013, she collaborated with five other filmmakers to direct, produce, and shoot the collaborative feature film, The Mice Room. This film was screened at the Dubai Film Festival and the Sao Paulo Film Festival. It was during this time that she, along with her fellow filmmakers, established the film collective and production company Rufy's Films in Alexandria. Mayye is a Fulbright scholar who studied cinema and media studies at Wellesley College and Innovations in Documentary at MIT in 2011/2012 in the USA. She is the recipient of the Getty Images ARRAY grant in 2017 and Film Independent's Global Media Makers Fellowship in 2017 and 2019. She’s also an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Nipkow Program, Good Pitch, Mediterranean Film Institute, Documentary Campus Masterschool, DOX BOX and the American Film Showcase documentary program in USC School of Cinematic Arts. She was also a jury member for film grants for prestigious organizations such as Getty Images and Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund.…An Egyptian award-winning filmmaker based in Berlin and the founder of Cleo Media for female-driven content production and impact distribution in Alexandria. Since 2010, she has been working as a film director, producer, impact producer, editor, and cinematographer. In 2020, she achieved critical acclaim for her award-winning feature documentary, Lift Like A Girl, which she directed and produced. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and received the Golden Dove Award for Best Film at Dok Leipzig, three awards at the Cairo International Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Award for the Critics Awards for Arab Films. The film was co-produced with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel and it was the first Egyptian documentary to be distributed on Netflix worldwide. Prior to this success, in 2016, she directed, produced, and edited the short film A Stroll Down Sunflower Lane, which was screened at the Berlinale and AFI Fest. The film was also recognized by receiving the Best Experimental Film award at the Sharjah Film Platform. As an editor, she edited the feature documentary, I Have a Picture, that received the Best Arab Documentary Award in El-Gouna Film Festival and the Best Documentary Award in the Tripoli Film Festival in 2018. Also, in 2014, she had the opportunity to work as a cinematographer on the feature film Veve which was produced by the renowned German filmmaker Tom Tykwer. Additionally, in 2013, she collaborated with five other filmmakers to direct, produce, and shoot the collaborative feature film, The Mice Room. This film was screened at the Dubai Film Festival and the Sao Paulo Film Festival. It was during this time that she, along with her fellow filmmakers, established the film collective and production company Rufy's Films in Alexandria. Mayye is a Fulbright scholar who studied cinema and media studies at Wellesley College and Innovations in Documentary at MIT in 2011/2012 in the USA. She is the recipient of the Getty Images ARRAY grant in 2017 and Film Independent's Global Media Makers Fellowship in 2017 and 2019. She’s also an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Nipkow Program, Good Pitch, Mediterranean Film Institute, Documentary Campus Masterschool, DOX BOX and the American Film Showcase documentary program in USC School of Cinematic Arts. She was also a jury member for film grants for prestigious organizations such as Getty Images and Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund.

Mayye Zayed

Film Director, Video Editor, Cinematographer, +2

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An Egyptian award-winning filmmaker based in Berlin and the founder of Cleo Media for female-driven content production and impact distribution in Alexandria. Since 2010, she has been working as a film director, producer, impact producer, editor, and cinematographer. In 2020, she achieved critical acclaim for her award-winning feature documentary, Lift Like A Girl, which she directed and produced. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and received the Golden Dove Award for Best Film at Dok Leipzig, three awards at the Cairo International Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Award for the Critics Awards for Arab Films. The film was co-produced with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel and it was the first Egyptian documentary to be distributed on Netflix worldwide. Prior to this success, in 2016, she directed, produced, and edited the short film A Stroll Down Sunflower Lane, which was screened at the Berlinale and AFI Fest. The film was also recognized by receiving the Best Experimental Film award at the Sharjah Film Platform. As an editor, she edited the feature documentary, I Have a Picture, that received the Best Arab Documentary Award in El-Gouna Film Festival and the Best Documentary Award in the Tripoli Film Festival in 2018. Also, in 2014, she had the opportunity to work as a cinematographer on the feature film Veve which was produced by the renowned German filmmaker Tom Tykwer. Additionally, in 2013, she collaborated with five other filmmakers to direct, produce, and shoot the collaborative feature film, The Mice Room. This film was screened at the Dubai Film Festival and the Sao Paulo Film Festival. It was during this time that she, along with her fellow filmmakers, established the film collective and production company Rufy's Films in Alexandria. Mayye is a Fulbright scholar who studied cinema and media studies at Wellesley College and Innovations in Documentary at MIT in 2011/2012 in the USA. She is the recipient of the Getty Images ARRAY grant in 2017 and Film Independent's Global Media Makers Fellowship in 2017 and 2019. She’s also an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Nipkow Program, Good Pitch, Mediterranean Film Institute, Documentary Campus Masterschool, DOX BOX and the American Film Showcase documentary program in USC School of Cinematic Arts. She was also a jury member for film grants for prestigious organizations such as Getty Images and Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund.…An Egyptian award-winning filmmaker based in Berlin and the founder of Cleo Media for female-driven content production and impact distribution in Alexandria. Since 2010, she has been working as a film director, producer, impact producer, editor, and cinematographer. In 2020, she achieved critical acclaim for her award-winning feature documentary, Lift Like A Girl, which she directed and produced. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and received the Golden Dove Award for Best Film at Dok Leipzig, three awards at the Cairo International Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Award for the Critics Awards for Arab Films. The film was co-produced with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel and it was the first Egyptian documentary to be distributed on Netflix worldwide. Prior to this success, in 2016, she directed, produced, and edited the short film A Stroll Down Sunflower Lane, which was screened at the Berlinale and AFI Fest. The film was also recognized by receiving the Best Experimental Film award at the Sharjah Film Platform. As an editor, she edited the feature documentary, I Have a Picture, that received the Best Arab Documentary Award in El-Gouna Film Festival and the Best Documentary Award in the Tripoli Film Festival in 2018. Also, in 2014, she had the opportunity to work as a cinematographer on the feature film Veve which was produced by the renowned German filmmaker Tom Tykwer. Additionally, in 2013, she collaborated with five other filmmakers to direct, produce, and shoot the collaborative feature film, The Mice Room. This film was screened at the Dubai Film Festival and the Sao Paulo Film Festival. It was during this time that she, along with her fellow filmmakers, established the film collective and production company Rufy's Films in Alexandria. Mayye is a Fulbright scholar who studied cinema and media studies at Wellesley College and Innovations in Documentary at MIT in 2011/2012 in the USA. She is the recipient of the Getty Images ARRAY grant in 2017 and Film Independent's Global Media Makers Fellowship in 2017 and 2019. She’s also an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Nipkow Program, Good Pitch, Mediterranean Film Institute, Documentary Campus Masterschool, DOX BOX and the American Film Showcase documentary program in USC School of Cinematic Arts. She was also a jury member for film grants for prestigious organizations such as Getty Images and Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund.

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An Egyptian award-winning filmmaker based in Berlin and the founder of Cleo Media for female-driven content production and impact distribution in Alexandria. Since 2010, she has been working as a film director, producer, impact producer, editor, and cinematographer.

In 2020, she achieved critical acclaim for her award-winning feature documentary, Lift Like A Girl, which she directed and produced. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and received the Golden Dove Award for Best Film at Dok Leipzig, three awards at the Cairo International Film Festival, and the Best Documentary Award for the Critics Awards for Arab Films. The film was co-produced with ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel and it was the first Egyptian documentary to be distributed on Netflix worldwide.

Prior to this success, in 2016, she directed, produced, and edited the short film A Stroll Down Sunflower Lane, which was screened at the Berlinale and AFI Fest. The film was also recognized by receiving the Best Experimental Film award at the Sharjah Film Platform. As an editor, she edited the feature documentary, I Have a Picture, that received the Best Arab Documentary Award in El-Gouna Film Festival and the Best Documentary Award in the Tripoli Film Festival in 2018. Also, in 2014, she had the opportunity to work as a cinematographer on the feature film Veve which was produced by the renowned German filmmaker Tom Tykwer.

Additionally, in 2013, she collaborated with five other filmmakers to direct, produce, and shoot the collaborative feature film, The Mice Room. This film was screened at the Dubai Film Festival and the Sao Paulo Film Festival. It was during this time that she, along with her fellow filmmakers, established the film collective and production company Rufy’s Films in Alexandria.

Mayye is a Fulbright scholar who studied cinema and media studies at Wellesley College and Innovations in Documentary at MIT in 2011/2012 in the USA. She is the recipient of the Getty Images ARRAY grant in 2017 and Film Independent’s Global Media Makers Fellowship in 2017 and 2019. She’s also an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Nipkow Program, Good Pitch, Mediterranean Film Institute, Documentary Campus Masterschool, DOX BOX and the American Film Showcase documentary program in USC School of Cinematic Arts. She was also a jury member for film grants for prestigious organizations such as Getty Images and Hot Docs-Blue Ice Docs Fund.