Naji Abu Nowar

Naji Abu Nowar (Arabic: ناجي أبو نوار; born 1981) is a British-Jordanian film director, writer and producer. Best known for his works Death of a Boxer (2009), Till Death (2012) and Theeb (2014) for which he received wide spread acclaim and recognition, including a Best Foreign Language Film nomination at 88th Academy Awards, nomination for Best film not in the English language, and the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the 69th British Academy Film Awards. Theeb is the first Jordanian film to receive an Oscar nomination. Abu Nowar was born in Oxford in 1981, from a Jordanian military family. He is the youngest of thirteen half-siblings. As a child, he heard stories from his father about chivalrous and courageous Bedouin warriors, which later influenced his film making. In an interview with The Times' Kate Maltby, he said: "I’ve always had a sympathy for people caught between different pressures."When Abu Nowar was 10 years old, his family moved to Jordan. He later returned to England to complete his A Levels and attend King's College London where he focused on war studies. He used some of the strategic and organizational skills acquired at college during the making of his movie, Theeb. Early in his career, Abu Nowar and his friend Rupert Lloyd got jobs laying dance floors. When they won their first BAFTA, they would dance on a floor they had constructed years earlier at the Grosvenor House Hotel.Abu Nowar returned to Amman in 2004, where he took up residence.