Koutaiba Al Janabi is a Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

-based Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

i filmmaker, director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

 and photographer born in Baghdad

Baghdad

Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...

, who documented Wasteland: Between London and Baghdad.

Koutaiba attended the Academy of Drama and Cinema in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

, Hungary

Hungary

Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

. He stayed in Hungary after film school for over seven years, working in film and television for various broadcasters and production companies before making his move to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Koutaiba speaks Arabic, English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

. He has undertaken projects in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...

, the Persian Gulf states, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, Oman

Oman

Oman , officially called the Sultanate of Oman , is an Arab state in southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the United Arab Emirates to the northwest, Saudi Arabia to the west, and Yemen to the southwest. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the...

 and Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

.

Filmography

This is a partial list of productions:

• The Winter of Love (was A Quiet Desperation) (2011) Dir. Photography.
• Leaving Baghdad (2010). Director.
• Wasteland: Between London and Baghdad. (1998)
• Emotional Backgammon
  Emotional Backgammon
  Emotional Backgammon is a 2003 British independent comedy-drama about couples strategizing to repair relationships, with unexpected results. The film was written by Leon Herbert and Matthew Hope, directed by Herbert, and stars Herbert, Wil Johnson, Daniela Lavender, and Jacqueline de Peza. It is...
  
  (2003). UK. Cinematographer.
• An English Sheikh and a Yemeni Gentleman Yemen (2000)
• Jiyan
  Jiyan
  Jiyan is a 2002 film written and directed by the Kurdish director Jano Rosebiani.-Plot:Diyari, a Kurdish/American returns to his hometown of Halabja, to build an orphanage five years after the chemical bombing. There, he meets Jiyan and Sherko, orphan survivors of the attack...
  
  (2002) Cinematographer.
• A Quiet Desperation Feature, 35mm
• Still Life (16mm)
• The Train (16mm, black and white)
• Suck (35mm)
• If You Go Down to the Woods (16mm)
• Randall's Flat (Feature, Digi Beta)
• Making Mistakes (Digi Beta)
• Reunion (Documentary, shot in Hungary)
• No Man's Land (16mm, Hungary)
• Short Stories (Documentary, Kurdistan)
• Dead Men Talking (Documentary, for US cinema release)

Awards:

• Best Cinematography Award of the XVII Hungarian Festival of Commercials
• Best Cinematography Award of the Independent Arabic Film Festival in 1999

External links

• Official Site

• Koutaiba: Jiyan's Cinematographer. Jaap Mees. (2003)