Zahara Moufid

Zahara a Film Director, Producer, Actress and Scriptwriter, known for, 'Pappy' (2019), 'Shelter Me' (2018), 'Inside Apollo House' (2017) ,'The Count of Monte Cristo' (2002), '11th Hour' (2017) and 'Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005). Zahara Moufid grew up in Morocco speaking Arabic and French. She first discovered her love of storytelling with her grandmother, a gifted storyteller. Zahara's grandmother, as an upper-class woman, was not allowed to work, or even to write. Determined to make stories and cinema the centre of her own life, Zahara studied arts and drama and worked as an actress in Casablanca. She also did a master's degree in marketing.

Zahara moved to Ireland, and began a master's degree in media studies at Griffith College, Dublin, and a part-time acting course at the Gaiety School of Acting, graduating in 2002. She joined an acting agency and was offered a variety of roles. Also in 2002, she was offered an assignment by the Irish Times to film in Libya, including an interview with Colonel Gaddafi.

Zahara was commissioned by a charitable organisation to film and produce a documentary about the lives of Sri Lankan refugees living in India. This project took her to southern India with visits to refugees camps and orphanages in Kerala, Bangalore and a scatter of out-of-the-way villages. She was commissioned by a charity to teach Drama and Filmmaking to underprivileged teenagers in Dublin.

Following this, she undertook a new and interesting role as documentarian working with the acclaimed Irish film-maker Jim Sheridan who was then working on the movie Réussir ou mourir (2005) in Toronto. Zahara shot behind-the-scenes concerning the making of that film. This, to her surprise, was picked up by MTV and Paramount Studios. Having been broadcast by MTV producers, Paramount offered her a contract to direct a behind-the-scenes documentary about the movie and about Curtis James Jackson III, known professionally as 50 Cent . For a period of approximately two years, she followed 50 Cent between New York and Los Angeles, recording interviews with him, his family and friends. This initial project with Oscar-nominated Jim Sheridan led to a rich and ongoing collaboration and a contract with his production company Hell's Kitchen where she works as a filmmaker, scriptwriter and producer. In 2007 Zahara began another Master's Degree, this time in Film Production at University College Dublin. In 2014, she founded and is the Director of the successful first Dublin Arabic Film Festival (DAFF) with Jim Sheridan as Festival President. The guest of honour wasOmar Sharif, who travelled to Dublin to support this worthy project. This, sadly, was to be one of Sharif's last public appearances. Zahara subsequently produced and directed a documentary about his visit which was screened at the second DAFF in 2015 in gratitude for his support, and as a tribute to his life's work. In December of 2017 Zahara directed the documentary Inside Apollo House which told the story of how a group of activists, many from the entertainment world, occupied a vacant office building in central Dublin to create temporary accommodation for people sleeping rough in the cold of winter. Her recent documentary "Shelter me" was premiered at many International Film Festivals. It won Best documentary Award at the disappear here film festival and also won The Jim Cullen Human Rights Award at Respect Belfast Human Rights Film Festival . Currently, She is working on several new film projects still in development. She attributes her craft development to working with her mentor, and partner Jim Sheridan, and working with him in the making of most his movies.