Palestinian producer Ahmad Al-Bazz receives the award for best film at the 18th edition of the FiSahara Human Rights Film Festival in the Sahrawi refugee camps in southern Algeria for the feature film 200 Meters, directed by Ameen Nayfeh, about a Palestinian father trying to cross the separation wall to reach his injured son in the West Bank. The award is a female white camel, a symbol of peace for Sahrawis. Traditionally, the winner of the best film award donates the camel to the local family who has hosted the filmmaker during the festival.

Salym Fayad

salymfayad@yahoo.com 0027785172132 South Africa

Topics of Focus

Migration, music, arts and culture, human rights

Geographic Areas of Focus

Sub-Saharan Africa

Biography

Salym Fayad is a documentary photographer and independent reporter from Bogota, Colombia based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has worked extensively in Sub-Saharan Africa on issues related to popular culture and music, migration, conflict and human rights.

His work has featured in publications such as The New York Times, The Guardian, the Boston Review, El Tiempo, Semana, Arcadia, El Malpensante, Gatopardo, Sunday Times, National Geographic, Mail & Guardian, Libération, among others, and has contributed to Agence France Presse (AFP) and European Pressphoto Agency (EPA). His work has been exhibited in cities like New York, Berlin, Helsinki, Perpignan, Bogota, Johannesburg, Addis Ababa and Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. 

He currently works on collaborative projects on the Somali diaspora in Johannesburg and on justice and gender violence in Eastern Congo. He has also worked in the management of cultural exchange projects related to music and film between Colombia and South Africa.

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