The Venice Film Festival welcomes its first Arab woman as jury member

This year’s Venice Biennale just added a cherry on top of the cake that the festival already was for Arab cinema.

The world’s oldest film festival now has its first ever Arab woman as a part of the judging panel, Hend Sabry.

Born in 1979, Hend Sabry who is an Egyptian-Tunisian actress, was born in Kebli, Tunisia. She has studied law and graduated with a Master’s degree in Intellectual property and copyright in 2004. Her acting career commenced in 1994 with Samt El Qosour (The Silence of the Palaces) followed by The Season of Men in 2000.

“I am proud to be one of the jury members of Venice Film Festival and I also feel proud that veteran directors Emir Kusurica and Antoinette Liowill be the jury presidents. I also am happy that this announcement coincides with the release of my movie ‘El-Feel-el Azra’a (The Blue Elephant) Part 2 which achieved huge success across the Arab world. I hope to be a good ambassador for Arab art at the oldest festival in the world, and one of the three most important festivals in the world,” wrote Sabry on her official Instagram account.

In addition to working on movies that focus on the stigma women face, she is also the World Food Program regional ambassador. She has been the recipient of several awards, most notably being the FatenHamama award for being the most influential Arab actress by Forbes Middle East and the America Abroad Media organisation in Washington.