Montaser Marai Bio

Montaser Marai is a Palestinian - Jordanian Journalist and Documentary Filmmaker

working for Aljazeera Channel since 2002. Early 2014, New Yorker published a piece

about Montaser's experience in the Arab Spring "Journalism Becomes a Crime in Egypt"

In FEB 2011, Montaser Marai was the main journalist of Aljazeera Channel covering the

Egyptian revolution in Al Tahrir square. Few days after the Libyan revolution erupted, he

has been in Libya with Aljazeera team to start the 1st coverage for Aljazeera.

Since Aljazeera played a major role in Arab Spring coverage, empowering ordinary people

or citizen journalists & giving them a platform to tell their unordinary stories, Montaser has

built his experience in journalism & social media & teaching this through intensive

workshops.

Montaser has produced & directed three documentary films on youth and revolution in

Egypt, Tunis, Libya & Syria: Sounds of Walls (Graffiti & Revolution), Hip Hop &

revolution & the last film Road to Damascus.

He has also produced & directed documentary films for Aljazeera: Killing witnesses,

Thieves of Baghdad, Stories of fence. He has been Head of Production in Aljazeera

Documentary Channel from SEP 2008 till NOV 2009 where he back to Aljazeera main

Channels senior producer & making special documentaries & biographies on key figures:

Paulo Coelho, Noam Chomsky, Robert Fisk, Erdogan.. etc.

Montaser Marai now is Head of Media Consulting at Aljazeera Media Training Center.

Objectives

- Media for People: To create independent media & liberated from power of Money & Politics.

- Empowering youth in Media through training, workshops, forums… etc., focusing more on the

margin not on the centre.

- To create 3rd direction of cinema respects the mind & values of human & reflects the diversity in

the world.

Summary of Achievements

Arab Spring

I was the solo Journalist of Aljazeera covering the Egyptian revolution in Al Tahrir Square from

inside & being behind the footages which have been watched by millions around the world through

Aljazeera.

I was among few Journalists who managed to get into Libya just few days after 17 FEB 2001

revolution to cover it for Aljazeera.

Journalism & Social media

Aljazeera experience helped me to build my own experience on Journalism & Digital era including

social media. I have been through hard work to gather news from crowd sources where Aljazeera

team couldn’t be exist. The challenge was to receive news & verify it. This experience provides me

with passion to design a social media hub at Aljazeera & train journalists about the whole process.

Founding projects

I have founded the Arabic section of Turkish News Agency (Anadolu Agency) on professional bases

making a distance between the fund of state & the editorial policy. www.aa.co.tr/ar

I have founded Film Forum, non-profit organization to organize workshops, training, and production

in Media & Cinema mainly for youth in Arab World.

Consultant / Project Manager

I have created the idea of Aljazeera Movie Channel & designed the proposal including content, form

& budget. Same I did for Aljazeera Youth Channel project.

I have given consultations in media field for governments, TV channels, News agencies,

independent organizations, media & production co., Forums & conferences.

Documentary Films

I made documentary films on key figures for Aljazeera: Paulo Coelho, R. T. Erdogan, Robert Fisk &

Noam Chomsky in addition to many hot issues such as Israel Lobby in USA, Targeting Journalists

during covering wars (Killing Witnesses), Syrian Revolution (Road to Damascus), War in Iraq (Road

to Baghdad), Smuggling Iraq antiquities after 2003 war (Thieves of Baghdad), Art of revolution in

Egypt, Tunis & Libya (Sounds of walls)…etc.

Training & Empowering youth

I founded Film Forum (non-profit organization) in UK to provide free training on documentary &

cinema filmmaking, empowering Arab youth in the field of media & cinema & creating new culture or

industry in the region. I've trained hundreds of youth around the Arab World.

I have created youth communities / platforms to think & talk about cinema & to co-produce short

films.

Students Activism

- I am so grateful to my University because students' activism taught me as same as my class. I

was very active in political & social activity in the university & I was elected member of student

union and many organizations.

- I've been Chief Editor of students' newspaper (Alminbar Altullaby – Students' Forum) two times

and started working in Journalism field since the university in 2004 when I published my 1st story in

one of the independent newspapers in Jordan.

Experience

2013 Head of Media Consulting – Aljazeera Media training Centre

2009 – 2012

Senior producer – News & Programs – Aljazeera Channel.

2008 – 2009

Head of Production – Aljazeera Documentary Channel.

2005 – 2009

Producer of In Focus program (Current affairs documentary programme).

2003 -2004

Assistant Producer in news room – Aljazeera Channel

2002

Journalist at Aljazeera Channel.

1998 – 2002

Producer of TV talk show on ART

Head of Islam on Line office in Jordan and travailing reporter for the website.

Education

Diploma in Filmmaking, 2005

New York Film Academy, London, UK.

BA, Sociology, 1998

University of Jordan

Kingdom of Jordan

Skills:

Filmmaker, Journalist, Photographer, Trainer, Consultant, Creative producer & Projects manager.