BIO
An International Nubian 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 2022 and RED SEA Film Fund 2022, AFAC 2023
Marwa’s films have premiered & officially selected 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 Curator for Goethe Exile Berlin, Jury member at Jerusalem Film Festival Palestine, Jury member at CPH DOX, Jury Member for Al Mawred Grant, A correspondent in South Sudan, Jury member at DOX BOX Berlin, Film programmer at Sudan Film Festival, Festival Director at SHNIT international film festival Cairo edition.
During her film studies in Cairo and after , she worked as assistant director to acclaimed Egyptian directors such as Dawoud Abdel Sayed, Khairy Beshara, Dr. Sherif Sabri, Shady El Fakharany and Hala Khalil.
Marwa studied Chemical Engineering for few years, then obtained her BA in Film Directing in Academy of Arts in Cairo, Egypt 2009. Studied New Film Teaching Techniques in Danish National Film School in Copenhagen, Denmark 2015.
2021 Obtained her MA in Film and Media Arts in Kunsthochschule Für Medien -KHM - Köln, Germany.
Since 2021, she works as a Film Lecturer in SRH -Berlin University of Applied Sciences.
Since 2023, she works as a Film Lecturer in Catalyst -institute for Creative Arts & Technology- which is partnered with Plymouth Marjon University UK in Berlin, Germany.
Parallel to her successful film career, Marwa is establishing a new path as a learner and practitioner of holistic techniques through analytical dreams and Imagery work.
Since 2020 she has been learning the Saphire® method alongside alternative intuitive studies in Egypt, Europe and USA.
Born in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Lived in Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, France and since 2019 based in Germany.
Goethe Exile Berlin 2025
AFAC Film Fund Lebanon 2023
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
Berlin Talent Campus
Berlin 2009
Cannes Film Market 2023
RED SEA Film Fund Saudi Arabia 2022
IMS International Media Support
Denmark 2019
Cite International des arts
Paris - France 2018
JCC TAKMIL
Tunis 2016
Beirut Film Station Residency
Lebanon 2016
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.