Pary El-Qalqili

Pary El-Qalqili is a writer and director based in Berlin. In her cinematic work, she explores nonlinear narratives that challenge hegemonic storytelling. Looking at life that has been disrupted, uprooted, colonized, and marginalized, she understands fragmentary narrative forms that embrace ruptures, gaps, and irritation as key to decolonize not only our gaze, but also our mind. Her feature “The Turtle’s Rage” has been awarded at international film festivals and had a German cinema release. Her last short film “neighbors,” co-directed with Christiane Schmidt, was nominated for the German Critics Award 2019. She is currently teaching at various institutions, such as Berlin University of Arts; Johann Gutenberg University, Mainz; Barenboim-Said Academy, Berlin; and the self-organized film school Filmarche, also in Berlin.

Pary El-Qalqili is a participant of the Onassis AiR Extended Research Residencies program for 2024/25.