Omar Al-Qattan was born in Beirut and moved to the UK at the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975. Following a degree in English language and literature from Oxford University, he studied film directing at the Institut National Supérieur des Arts du Spectacles (INSAS) in Brussels. His first film, Dreams & Silence, an early exploration of political Islam, won the 1991 Joris Ivens Award. In 1994, he produced Michel Khleifi’s Tale of the Three Jewels, shot entirely in the Occupied Gaza Strip. The film premiered at Cannes and won a host of international awards. He has since worked on numerous films, including producing Khleifi’s Zindeeq (2009 Muhr Award for Best Arab Feature, Dubai Film Festival). In 1999, Al-Qattan launched the A.M. Qattan Foundation’s cultural track including, a few years later, the Palestinian Audio-visual Programme. The Foundation also runs a children’s library and cultural centre in Gaza City and an educational research and development programme focused on Palestinian school teachers. The Foundation opened its new state of the art cultural centre in Ramallah, Palestine end of June 2018. In 2008, Al-Qattan established The Mosaic Rooms in London, a space focused on the cultures of the Arab World, which has become a leading institution in its field. He was also Chair of the Shubbak Festival of Contemporary Arab Culture in London in 2013 and 2015. He has been a member of Taawon-Welfare Association since 1999, and was chair of The Palestinian Museum from 2012 to 2017 during which time he oversaw the inauguration of its building in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and launched its 2017-2019 programme. In addition, Al-Qattan chairs Al-Hani Construction and Trading Company in Kuwait, a leader in the construction of large-scale public projects such as the recently completed Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre. He has contributed to a number of English and Arabic language publications, such as the Guardian, New Statesman, Vertigo, openDemocracy, CounterPunch, Al-Ayyam, Al Hayat and Al Quds al-Arabi, as well as co-editing bi-lingual publications including New Horizons in Palestinian Art and Hope & the Aesthetic Moment, both catalogues of work by young Palestinian artists. He also contributed chapters to two books: Dreams of a Nation (on Palestinian cinema) and Nakba: Palestine, 1948 and the Claims of Memory

‍