Anna Fahr
M.F.A., Hollins University - Screenwriting and Film Studies
M.A., New York University - Individualized Study (concentration: Film and Middle Eastern Studies)
B.F.A., Concordia University (Montreal) - Film Production
Anna Fahr is an independent filmmaker, educator, and founder of Morning Bird Pictures, a Toronto-based production company dedicated to creating films with social impact that focus on the contemporary Middle East and its diaspora.
From 2012 to 2015, she served as a full-time Visiting Instructor at the Lebanese American University in Beirut. She went on to independently produce and direct a number of documentaries, short films and new media projects in Lebanon before embarking on her debut narrative feature, Valley of Exile. The film premiered in 2023 at Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival where it won the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature. It has since won awards for DGC Ontario Best Director at the Canadian Film Fest, Emerging Canadian Filmmaker at the Vancouver International Film Festival and Best World Cinema Narrative Feature at Kansas City FilmFest International, among others. Anna is currently in development on her second narrative feature with financing from Ontario Creates, the Harold Greenberg Fund and Telefilm Canada.
Research & Creative Interests: Screenwriting, Directing, Documentary and Narrative Filmmaking, Middle Eastern Cinemas, Women in Film, New Media, Transnational Filmmaking Practices.
Professional Associations & Memberships: The Director’s Guild of Canada active member, Film Fatales active member, Producer's Network (Cannes Film Festival 2024), Film Independent alumnus, Canadian Film Centre alumnus.