The International Jury
Hiam Abbas. © Philippe Quaisse
Hiam Abbass (France) is born in 1960 and grew up in a village in north Galilee. Starting her career as a film actress, settles in France; her role in Tunisian Raja Amari’s Red Satin brings her fame. Thereafter she works with prominent filmmakers of the Middle East, Yousry Nasrallah (Gate of the Sun, 2004) Amos Gitaï (Free Zone, 2005), and Eran Riklis (The lemon trees, 2008). Very rapidly she is much sought after by French filmmakers (Patrice Chéreau, Jean Becker, Nicolas Saada), and also by Jim Jarmusch (The Limits of Control, 2009), Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor, 2007) or Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, 2007). Polyglot and an expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hiam Abbass also advised Spielberg on the sets of Munich (2005).
Ahmed Djebbar. (c) DR
Ahmed Djebbar (Algeria) is a mathematician. Professor Emeritus at the University of Science and Technology of Lille, he is also a research scientist in history of mathematics, associated with the C.N.R.S. (U.M.R. 8524), specializing in medieval Arab mathematics of al-Andalus, Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa. Member of the editorial board of several international journals (LLull, Zaragoza; Journal for the History of Arabic Science, Syria; Tarikh-e-Ilm ,Iran), he is also vice-president of Transcultura (chaired by Umberto Eco) since 2008, as well as of the International Institute for Policy Research of Civilization (chaired by Edgar Morin) since 2009. He has several publications to his credit, among other works, A history of Arabic science(Seuil, 2001), the Arabic algebra, Genesis of an art(Vuibert-Adapt, 2005) and Les Découvertes en pays d’Islam (Le Pommier, 2009).
Amadou Mailele. (c) DR
Amadou Mailele (Niger), has an arts background, is a politician and diplomat. After various experiences as a teacher in Niamey, as well as several years as a researcher and Assistant Professor at the University, Amadou Mailele is, from 1997 to 2007, Senior Advisor of Niger's Prime Minister, before becoming special advisor to the President of the Republic of Niger between 2008 and 2010. In 2007 and 2011, he represents the Niger at the Executive Board of UNESCO, where, in November 2011, he becomes Chairman of the Programme and External Relations of the 36e General Conference. He has published several scientific works, including the literary expression of the colonial tragedy in Negro African drama ‐ 1950–1960, a study of the image of Africa in Journey to the end of night of Celine (1977) and a thematic study and bibliography of African novel(Grenoble III, 1978).
Gema Martín Muñoz ( EFE)
Gema Martin Muñoz (Spain) Arabist by training, she teaches sociology of the Arab-Muslim world at the Autonomous University of Madrid. She is also interested in the relationship between the Islamic and western world. In 2006, she founded the Casa Arabe and itsInternational Institute of Arab and Muslim World Studies(IEAM) and was the Director-General until 2012. She was also a member of the Advisory Board of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures. She has to her credit, several essays on contemporary Arab-Muslim world, including El Islam y el Mundo Arabe. Guía didáctica para profesores y formadores (Islam and the Arab world. Teaching Guidelines for teachers and trainers", AECI, 1996) andIslam from Phobia to Understanding (ed. and author). Human Architecture. Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge (Vol. VIII, 2010).
© Cyril Baïlleul/UNESCO
Farhan Nizami (India/UK) is a Prince of Wales Fellow in the study of the Islamic World, Magdalen College, Oxford and the Founder Director of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, Farhan Nizami studied Modern History at Wadham College. From 1983 he has been a Fellow of St Cross College: Rothman’s Fellow in Muslim History, subsequently Fellow in Islamic Studies, and currently Emeritus Fellow. He is a member of the Faculties of History and Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford. He is Founder Editor of the Journal of Islamic Studies (OUP, 1990-); Series Editor, Makers of Islamic Civilization (OUP, 2004-). He specializes in Muslim social and intellectual history.