BIO
An International award winning Film Director, Script Writer, Camera-person and Producer for her acclaimed debut 'Khartoum Offside' and acclaimed short fiction films 'A game' and 'One week, Two days'.
Currently developing her feature fiction film ' Lily's Mecca‘. which is awarded for development grant from the prestigious Göteborg Film Festival 2021 and RED SEA Film Fund 2022, AFAC 2023
Marwa’s films have premiered in Berlinale, Toronto, CPH DOX, Sheffield, Visions du reel, BOZAR, JCC and IDFA amongst others.
"Khartoum Offside" received the15th Africa Movie Academy Award for best film (AMAA).
Best first work by TV5 Monde, among more than 35 national and international awards.
Since her first short fiction film A GAME, her films has been translated into more than 4 languages and distributed around the globe.
Previous positions include jury member at CPH DOX, A correspondent in South Sudan, Jury member at DOX BOX Berlin, Film programmer at Sudan independent film festival, Festival Director at SHNIT international film festival Cairo edition.
Marwa studied Chemical Engineering for few years, then obtained her BA in Film Directing in Academy of Arts in Cairo, Egypt. Studied New Film Teaching Techniques in Danish National Film School in Copenhagen, Denmark.
2020 Obtained her MA in Film and Media Arts in Kunsthochschule Für Medien -KHM - Köln, Germany.
Since 2021, she is lecturing as a Film Lecturer in SRH -Berlin University of Applied Sciences- and since 2023 in Catalyst -institute for Creative Arts & Technology- which is partnered with Plymouth Marjon University UK in Berlin.
Parallel to her successful film career, Marwa is establishing a new path as a learner and practitioner of healing techniques through analytical psychology, dreams and Imagery work.
Since 2020 she has been learning the Saphire® method alongside alternative intuitive studies in Europe and USA.
She is embracing the intersection between film and healing while leaning on spirituality as the core of her own life path.
Born in Mecca. She carries original Nubian/Sudanese roots and Bedouin-Egyptian upbringing mixed with a European one; which makes her a true citizen of the world.
Art Grants & Residencies
Goteborg Film Fund
Sweden 2021
IDFA Film Grant
Netherlands 2017
The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture AFAC
Lebanon 2016
Danish National Film School Mentorship
Copenhagen 2015
IMS International Media Support
Denmark 2019
Cite International des arts
Paris - France 2018
JCC TAKMIL
Tunis 2016
Beirut Film Station Residency
Lebanon 2016
Berlin Talent Campus
Berlin 2009
Durban Talent Campus
South Africa 2013
The 15th Africa Movie
Academy Awards AMAA 2019
Carthage International Film Festival JCC TV5 Monde 2019
Awards & Prizes
Best Documentary award in FCAT
Spain 2019
Best Short Film Award Rwanda Film Festival
Rwanda 2017
Quibdo Africa Film Festival
Columbia 2020
ASA Awards
USA 2020
Special Mention Award at Malmo Arab FF Sweden 2019
Best Short Fiction Ismailia
International Film Festival
Egypt 2010
Best Short Film Award National Egyptian Film Festival
Egypt 2009
Words Of Others
Dorothee Wenner
Berlinale Forum programmer
Marwa Zein’s debut is at once cinematic proof of the power of female friendship and a Sudanese filmmaker’s concerted effort to rectify stereotypical perceptions of her country.
Giona A. Nazzaro
Visions du reel programmer
Marwa Zein’s debut is a brave film that asks important questions with
great visual flair. It succeeds at exploring different layers of reality while opening all the time new possibilities of interaction with the world. A highly political and poetical work.
Beth.Seymour
ACT Film programmer
The more I think about Khartoum Offside, the more it impresses me. While there is much to praise in its polish and cinematic professionalism, what is striking is its unusual and unique insights, most of which are affecting me on the visual level. This film is the sort of doc film I like in that it does what it does in an underdetermined manner, e.g., less a result of a direct commentary but through a network of patterns, emphasis, and quiet—but powerful--subtleties.