Brings together filmmakers, animation practitioners and storytellers from the region and beyond to examine what generative AI is changing in the ways stories are imagined, visualised and narrated.
The session considers what human craft, creative labour and embodied judgement continue to contribute, and asks which stories, cultural references and forms of knowledge shape the worlds that machines help us imagine. It focuses on the creative process rather than on AI as a technical product, exploring how practitioners can retain authorship, cultural voice and responsibility while working with emerging tools.
Fadel Al Mheiri
Fadel AlMheiri was born in 1979 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He has made six short films since 2001 and then established Tent Pictures Productions at TwoFour54 in 2013; an independent film production company with a goal of producing feature length films.
He is currently working to release the animation feature film ‘Catsaway’ in cooperation with Imagenation Abu Dhabi. Taking place in the late 90's, it tells the story of a group of street cats who are forced to leave their safe shelter in the fast-growing city of Abu Dhabi. He is currently working on his second feature film titled ‘Tomina’; a robot purchased as a household appliance programmed to be a domestic servant in Al Ain who begins to experience emotions and struggles to become part of an Emirati family.
Ahmed Hamouda
Ahmed Hamouda is an Egyptian animation producer, storyteller, and co-founder and Head of Story at Giraffics, an animation studio working across the MENA region and internationally. His work focuses on developing original animated intellectual properties that combine distinctive visual storytelling with culturally rooted narratives. He contributed to Disney+’s Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire as Consulting Producer and Supervising Producer on two episodes, and is currently developing several original IPs, including El Leila El Kebira (The Grand Night), an animated feature film selected for the Annecy MIFA Pitches in 2020 and supported by the Red Sea Film Foundation. Giraffics has been selected for the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Market three times and has previously received an Annecy award. Ahmed is also exploring the intersection of animation and artificial intelligence, with a particular interest in expanding creative possibilities while preserving artistic integrity and cultural identity.
Basma Hosam
Basma Hosam is an award-winning Egyptian illustrator specializing in children’s book illustration, character design and visual storytelling. With nearly ten years of professional experience and over forty illustrated books, she has collaborated with renowned publishers including Penguin Random House, Al Salwa Publishers and Nahdet Misr Publishing, bringing stories to life through expressive characters and distinctive artistic styles. Her work has earned recognitions including the IBBY Honour List (2024), the Etisalat Award for Arabic Children’s Literature (2022 and 2024), the Abdelaziz Mansour Publishing Prize (2019) and the Sawiris Foundation Cultural Award (2025). In 2024 she served as a jury member for the Sawiris Foundation Cultural Award in the children’s books category.
Hiba Farhat