In his three-day program, Mr. Kauffman worked closely with JFS students from diverse film backgrounds, interests, and areas of expertise, sharing his experiences in filmmaking, while relishing in the diversity of creativity and skill among these rising Egyptian filmmakers. The program closed with a packed screening of Mr. Kauffman’s newest documentary, Tigerland, followed by a discussion at the Great Hall in the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Ross Kauffman is the Academy Award winning director, producer, cinematographer, and co-editor of Born Into Brothels, which won both the Oscar and the Emmy awards for the best documentary in 2005. Mr. Kauffman was also the executive producer of the award-winning documentary In A Dream (directed by Jeremiah Zagar), and was a producer of the Academy Award-nominated film Postergirl.  Mr. Kauffman is a leading documentary cinematographer as well and worked on projects including PBS’s Half the Sky and Morgan Spurlock’s Comicon.

Funded by the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA), AFS is managed through a partnership with The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.  AFS promotes people-to-people engagement, offers contemporary insights into American society, and fosters understanding across cultures. The Embassy is funding the Jesuit Film School’s yearlong film production program for 17 local filmmakers. The school is dedicated to film studies and serves film enthusiasts in the Nile Delta. 

Cultural and artistic exchanges are just one way the United States partners with the people and government of Egypt. Find out more at the Embassy’s website, http://eg.usembassy.gov, and follow the Embassy’s participation in film diplomacy programming on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @USEmbassyCairo.