Hear Róisín’s perspective about contemporary MENA+ cinema and how she’s making an impact in the industry

The Iraqi-Irish curator, film programmer, and London-based writer founded Habibi Collective - a digital archive and curatorial platform for MENA women’s filmmaking - in 2018. She has directed four film festivals in the region, most recently Iraq’s first independent film festival, Independent Iraqi Film Festival (IIFF). She has curated programmes on MENA filmmaking in galleries, festivals and cinemas across the world and has lectured on Arab film at renowned institutions. She is currently developing the first independent streaming service for MENA cinema, Shasha Movies Ltd. She is also founder and editor of ART WORK Magazine, a critical art e-publication for cultural workers operating on the margins, and has worked as a freelance journalist for publications such as The Guardian, Frieze and i-D. Tapponi currently works at The Mosaic Rooms, a gallery in Kensington dedicated to contemporary Arab art and is pursuing postgraduate research at UCL.

Check out Habibi Collective, the first space for MENA women’s filmmaking online, which has developed a global community and an archive of over 500 films from women in the region and diaspora. The Collective features a range of documentaries, shorts, experimental videos, moving-image, and narrative features around themes such as climate migration, queer identity, and the archive.

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