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RITA BAGHDADI: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Spotlight Join Emmy Award®-winning documentary filmmaker Rita Baghdadi as she explores her career as a multi-hyphenate director, producer and cinematographer of bold, independent, character-driven docs, including her Sundance hit Sirens and yet-to-be-released Stallions, while also creating projects for streamers such as Netflix and National Geographic.

Rita Baghdadi is an Emmy Award®-winning American-Moroccan documentary filmmaker with over 10 years of experience directing, producing and filming bold, character-driven films with an intimate lens. She is the director, producer and cinematographer of the international sensation and Sundance smash-hit Sirens (executive produced by Natasha Lyonne and Maya Rudolph), co-founder of women-run Lady & Bird Films and member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.

Her character-driven films My Country No More, and City Rising, are highly regarded for their tight editing and intimate lensing, creating humanistic portraits of the lives of young people swept up in major socio-political changes.

As both an established filmmaking talent and an accomplished cinematographer, Baghdadi shares her insights into creating intimate character documentaries with a distinct style and discerning eye for important stories and subjects that may be traditionally excluded from the spotlight.

Having also worked for major players including Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon, Apple TV, and BBC, Baghdadi shares how she navigates crafting independent projects as well as commissions for global streamers, and her methods for keeping story at the heart of her creative practice.

 

Image credit: Jed drives, My Country No More (Endless Eye Productions, 2018)

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