Aida Schlaepfer

Aida Schlaepfer is a Swiss film director and writer. Born in Baghdad, to a Lebanese mother and an Iraqi father, and spending her life between her parents two countries, Schlaepfer experienced living in a war-torn country and is aware of how this can affect an entire life. This led way to her most notable piece Gangs of Baghdad, which was entered in the Al-Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival at Doha in Qatar and the French Culture Centre in Cairo, Egypt.

Schlaepfer studied art and media in Zurich.

Director Aida Schlaepfer, originally from the Middle East, studied German for several years before eventually settling in Switzerland. Always interested in film and the arts despite having been trained as an accountant, Schlaepfer earned a degree in Art and Media Design at F+F Schule fur Kunst und Mediendesign in Zurich. In 2003, she relocated to Egypt to attend the High Cinema Institute at the prestigious Academy of Arts in Cairo, earning a post-graduate diploma in Film Directing. Aida has several films to her credit, including Shadow Black and White (2001), Silent Screening inside a Woman (2002), East and West Dancing (2003), Marionette (2005), Gangs of Baghdad (2007), Homeland (2008), and an educational film created in 2006 for the German School in Cairo.

Marionette, in particular, received wide exposure and was screened at film festivals around the world, including Poland (2006), Houston (2006—Bronze Medal winner), Cairo (National Festival of Cinema; Saqeyat Al Sawee Cultural Center; French and Russian Cultural Centers, 2006; Independent Film Encounter IFE, 2007), France (2007), Berlin (2007) and Tunisia (2007). Gangs of Baghdad was featured at the 11th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards - ArcLight Cinemas in California, USA (2007), the Russian Cultural Center in Cairo (2008), the French Cultural Center in Cairo (2008), the Gulf Film Festival in Dubai (2008), Al-jazeerah International Documentary Film Festival in Qatar (2008), and at the Horcynus Festival in Rome (2008). International Festival of Muslim cinema Golden Minbar Kazan (2008)

Aida Schlaepfer was on the jury in: - The Media School Film Festival in Poland in 2005 - FIDADOC International Documentary Festival in Agadir Marocco November 2008 - International Arabic Film Festival Zurich Association President www.iaffz.com 2009

In addition, her paintings have been exhibited throughout Lebanon, Switzerland and Egypt. Aida credits her personal experience of having watched Lebanon and Iraq descend into war and anarchy with instilling within her a deep understanding of how destructive war is—both physically and psychologically. This understanding and personal experience with war motivated Aida to complete a one-year professional training in mediation in Zurich; it was also the impetus behind the creation of Gangs of Baghdad. More than anything, Aida hopes to bring global attention to the plight of the vulnerable and galvanize action for change with her films.