Diren Agbaba

BIOGRAPHIE

Born in Homs, Syria, she holds a master's degree in economics from the University of Aleppo. Following her graduation, she embarked on a career in Syrian media, working as a reporter and TV presenter for various Arabic channels. However, her life took a dramatic turn during the Syrian civil war when she participated in protests against the regime of Assad. Unfortunately, her activism led to her imprisonment. After her improsenment she was left with no choice but to flee her homeland. In 2014, she embarked on a journey to Europe, traveling by boat from Egypt to Italy. Remarkably, she and her fellow travellers, documented their entire voyage, and this footage would later become the foundation for the feature documentary "Crossing" by George Kurian. In response to a request from the European Union, she created the silent film "C'est La Vie", a project that sparked her burgeoning interest in cinema. After securing asylum in Belgium, she delved further into filmmaking, producing her second short film "Cheers," which was mentored by the esteemed Hungarian director Bela Tarr. This film garnered international acclaim and was selected for screenings at the Sarajevo Film Festival and Ghent International Film Festival. Eager to explore and develop her cinematic voice, she sought to enhance her skills through formal education. Thus, she applied to Saint Lucas film school in Brussels. For her Bachelor's film, "To My Father," she drew from her own life experiences, creating a semi-autobiographical story about two sisters navigating their father's passing and the process of clearing out their family home. this film had it`s international premiere at the International short film festival of Leuven. Her passion for storytelling and filmmaking grew bigger and she pursued further studies in this field, Successfully applying into the renowned Belgium film school "KASK" in Ghent, where she completed her Master's degree in filmmaking with the short film `Orange Flavored Love`. Throughout her journey, she has shown interest in human truth and during her productions she mainly works with first time actors and actresses. Improvisation plays an important part of the filmmaking process, through wich she is trying to develop her own cinematic truth.

FILMOGRAPHIE