Yassmina Karajah is a Jordanian-Palestinian screenwriter and director whose work has screened at major international festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival , AFI Fest, Melbourne International Film Festival , and New Directors/New Films at MoMA. Her short film Rupture (2018) was named to TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten, acquired by The Criterion Channel, and awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance, where she became the first recipient of the Russo Brothers Fellowship. Her latest short, Ambush (2025), premiered at TIFF and will compete in the Wide Angle Asian Short Film Competition at the Busan International Film Festival.She holds an LL.B from the University of Bristol, a BFA in Film Production from the University of British Columbia, and is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre’s Directors’ Lab. She is currently developing her debut feature, set in Amman, Jordan.
Together with Katarzyna Rodak, Jan wrote the screenplay for the comedy The Circle of Women, which in 2021 received a PISF development grant and a Script Wars distinction. In the same year, also in collaboration with Katarzyna Rodak, he created the script for the short film The Circle (22 min), which he directed. The rights to the film were acquired by Canal+ Polska and Ale Kino+.
The film premiered in the Polish Competition at the Krakow Film Festival in 2022. It was also screened at numerous festivals, including Młodzi i Film in Koszalin, the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, the Film, Music and Painting Festival “Summer with the Muses”, and the Camera Action Festival.
Charles grew up in a country town in northern Victoria, far from anything connected to filmmaking, except for an obsession with movies.
Though his household was largely dependent on government assistance, he found a way to make films with equipment ‘borrowed’ from the local school and, while still in his teens, won the Best Director award at Tropfest Film Festival.
Over the past decade his acclaimed films have screened and won awards at some of the world’s most prestigious film festivals including Cannes, Clermont-Ferrand, Toronto, SXSW, Telluride, Toronto, MIFF, Busan and the Australian Academy Awards.
His latest short film ALL THESE CREATURES was awarded the Palme d’Or at tthe 2018 Cannes Film Festival among more than 20 other international awards. He is currently developing feature projects THE BUZZARD and INSIDE.
