Maysoon Pachachi

Maysoon Pachachi is a film director, editor and producer of Iraqi origin. She was educated in Iraq, the U.S., Britain and can speak English, Arabic, French and Italian. She studied Philosophy at University College London and Film under Thorold Dickinson at the Slade School of Art, where visiting lecturers included Jean Renoir and Gillo Pontecorvo. She has made documentaries in Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. Aside from making films, Maysoon has also taught film directing and editing in Britain, Iraq and Palestine. She now lives in Britain where she co-founded Act Together: Women Against Sanctions and War on Iraq, a group of UK-based Iraqi and non-Iraqi women formed in 2000 to campaign against the economic sanctions on Iraq. They also campaigned against the invasion of Iraq. Now the group's focus is on the occupation and the support of independent grassroots women's initiatives in Iraq. She has also written articles on her work in Iraq and Palestine for the New Statesman and The Guardian among other publications.