The Company
No Nation Films was founded in Berlin in 2014 by Orwa Nyrabia and Diana El Jeiroudi, to continue their previous work as Proaction Film, which they founded in Syria in 2002 and then in Egypt in 2013. Over the years, the company produced and co-produced award- winning films that have been released theatrically in France, Japan, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the UK, and screened in numerous festivals, including Cannes, Amsterdam, Busan, Locarno, London, New York, Sundance and Toronto. Its films have been broadcast worldwide on television and via premium VOD platforms. The work of No Nation Films have earned its team numerous awards, including the European Documentary Network Award 2012, the FIDADOC honorary award, the Katrin Cartlidge Award, the first ever George Polk Award for Documentary Film and the Human Rights Watch Nestor Almendros Award for Courage in Filmmaking. While the films of No Nation Films (also under its previous name in Syria and Egypt, Proaction Film), received awards around the world including A Grierson, A Sundance Grand Jury Award, a Yamagata Award of Excellence, to name a few.
The Team
Diana El Jeiroudi
Diana is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, producer and promoter. She studied English literature and had a successful career in marketing and advertising, before she chose to specialize in documentary film. As Creative Producer, she worked on films such as Oscar-nominated director Sara Ishaq’s, The Mulberry House (IDFA 2013) and Silvered Water (Cannes 2014 – Grierson Award at BFI LFF 2014) by Ossama Mohammed and Return to Homs, to name a few. Diana is a co-founder of No Nation Films GmbH. As director, her films were screened in festivals, museums and on TV screens around the world to great critical acclaim. She is also a co-founder and the director of DOX BOX, formerly an independent festival in Syria and currently a support organization in Berlin aimed at Arab World filmmakers. Diana served on various prestigious juries, including the l’Oeil d’Or in Cannes 2015, IDFA, CPH:DOX, One World… Diana is a member of AMPAS, APSA and Deutsche Filmakademie
Orwa Nyrabia
Orwa is an award-winning documentary film producer, trainer, festival artistic director, actor and writer. He is the CEO of No Nation Films GmbH. Orwa studied acting at the Higher Institute for Dramatic Arts in Damascus. He worked as journalist and as 1st AD in fiction feature films, before dedicating his career fully to documentary cinema. His accolades include the Katrin Cartlidge Award, the Nestor Almendros Award for Courage in Filmmaking, the George Polk Award for documentary, the Paul Loritzen Award for Human Rights Contributions. He served as juror for many funds and festival compeitions, including Cannes, Berlinale, Sundance, Dok Leipzig, Doha Film Institute, to name a few. Orwa is a member of AMPAS, APSA and Deutsche Filmakademie. Since 2018, Orwa is the Artistic Director of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and is taking a break from producing new film projects.