About Nadia Fares Egyptian-Swiss Director & Screenwriter

“I'm interested in what people don't say. That's often where the real story begins.”

A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned an MFA in Film and Television, Nadia Fares began her career in fiction filmmaking. Early in her artistic journey, she assisted renowned Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski during his acting workshops, an experience that profoundly shaped her approach to directing actors and the emotional power of intimate storytelling.

Nadia’s breakthrough came with her debut feature, “Honey and Ashes”, which received international critical acclaim and multiple festival awards. Variety praised the film as “edgy and intelligent,” noting: “Fares’ sensitive direction and the cast’s persuasive performances make the film a passionate statement about the condition of women in the Arab World.” The film has since become a cult classic for its groundbreaking portrayal of contemporary Arab women determined to define themselves beyond the expectations of a patriarchal society. Its success led to an invitation from ARTE France to create and direct “Small Differences” (Anomalies passagères) as part of its prestigious Masculin/Féminin anthology. Alongside directors including Mathieu Amalric, Catherine Breillat, and Mira Nair, Nadia directed the one-hour dramedy about an intersex baby whose arrival turns the parents’ certainty about gender into a revealing comedy of contradictions.

Born to a Swiss mother and an Egyptian father, Nadia grew up navigating different cultures and perspectives—an experience that shaped her understanding of identity, belonging, and human nature. This ability to move between worlds has become a defining quality of her filmmaking, influencing the way she connects with actors, characters, and creative teams.

Driven by a desire to explore human nature from within, Nadia expanded into documentary filmmaking, using real-life encounters to deepen and enrich her fiction work. She has directed more than twenty documentaries for broadcasters including ARTE France, TV5Monde, and the Swiss public broadcasters RTS, SRF, and RSI. Her investigations have taken her into unexpected and challenging environments, from going undercover to interview contract killers in Europe to meeting a jailed jihadist in Africa. These encounters sharpened her ability to listen, observe, and reveal the humanity beneath appearances—an experience that continues to shape her approach to scripted filmmaking, bringing authenticity, emotional depth, and performances that feel spontaneous, layered, and deeply lived.

Seeking to expand her international career, Nadia moved to Los Angeles, where she secured U.S. representation and began developing the international television series “Young Cleopatra". The series explores Cleopatra’s coming-of-age journey, revealing the woman behind the legend—the turbulent years inside the palace walls that shaped her into Egypt’s last queen. This is the Cleopatra rarely found in history books.

She later wrote the feature screenplay “Diplomatic Corps” based on a true story, following the son of a diplomat coming to terms with his sexual orientation while his father faces a human rights crisis at the United Nations in New York City. The screenplay was selected for the New York Writers Lab, supported by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman.

For television, Nadia directed the five-part documentary series “Swiss Stories in L.A.”, following the lives of an artist, a dance teacher, an architect, a student, and a bodyguard pursuing their Californian dreams. The acclaimed series was broadcast on national television in Switzerland, France, and Germany.

With her own production company AfterAll Films, Nadia co-produced her recent documentary feature “Big Little Women” which received multiple international awards for its poetic realism, emotional authenticity, and cross-cultural perspective between East and West. The film portrays three generations of women challenging the roles and expectations imposed upon them, balancing deeply personal stories with broader social and political realities. Interweaving Nadia’s own story with that of a pioneering feminist thinker Nawal El Saadawi, the film is both deeply personal and universal.

Throughout her career, Nadia has been drawn to characters who challenge expectations and navigate worlds in transition. She continues this exploration with her next feature film, Hidden House, bringing together emotional depth, cinematic ambition, and her distinctive international perspective.

  • Director, writer, co-producer of the feature doc film "Big Little Women"
    Luna films & AfterAll Films Cairo​

    Director of the series "Swiss Stories in L.A."
    RTS, SRF, RSI & Framevox, Switzerland
    5 episodes

    Writer of the feature film "Diplomatic Corps"
    Winner of the Writer'sLab in New York, supported by Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep.

    Director, writer of "The journey of geckos"
    ARTE, France, RTS, AfterAllfilms & Framevox

    Writer & Creator of a TV - Series "Young Cleopatra"
    WK Productions, USA

    Director, writer of "Checkpoint Tunisia" documentary
    Framevox & RTS, Switzerland

    Director, writer & producer of "GirlsGoWheels" documentary
    AfterAll Films Cairo, RTS, Switzerland.

    Producer and Line Producer of "Born in Battle"
    Short fiction
    Afterall Films Geneva,  Arte Libera, Switzerland.

    Co-director and co-producer of "Karmalogic",
    TV pilot for a docudrama series,
    Unicon Films, L.A., California.

    Director of  "Double Life of Ron Appel, Scientist and Musician"
    Docuportrait
    Swiss-French Television, Violon Dingue, TV5Monde.

    Director, writer and producer of 3 TV commercials  for  "Home Exchange"
    L.A., California, AfterAll Films, Geneva.

    Director and writer of "Hit Man for Rent",  documentary.
    Swiss-French Television, Temps Présent, TV5Monde.

    Director of "The Recruited",  documentary.
    Swiss-French Television, Temps Présent, TV5Monde.

    Executive producer of "Mirage.com"
    Short film by Mansour Al Dhaheri.
    Al Kalema Art Production, U.A.E.

    Director, writer and producer of "Expectations"
    Short fiction.
    Al Kalema Art Production, U.A.E. "Honorable mention"  at the Los Angeles Movie Awards.

    Executive producer for commercials and music videos in Abu Dhabi.
    Al Kalema Art Production, Filmquip Dubai, U.A.E.

    Director and journalist of short documentaries, RTS, Switzerland and TV5 Monde, France.

    Director and co-writer of "Anomalies Passagères" (“Small Differences”)
    TV drama for the series "Masculin/Féminin" ("Male/FeMale").
    ARTE France, GMT Productions, Paris, France.

    Director and co-writer of "Les Saveurs du Printemps" (“Spring Break”).
    Cab Produtions, Switzerland, ARTE, France.

    Director and writer of "Mixed Up"
    A  personal  journey  into my Egyptian-Swiss family.
    Dschoint Ventschr, Switzerland.

    Director and writer of "Honey and Ashes"
    A feature film which received over 18 awards worldwide: Skyy Prize for best first film at the International Film Festival in San Francisco, the prestigious Ecumenical Award at the International Film Festival of Locarno and Antigone d'Or in Montpellier, France for best feature film.
    DschointVentschr, Switzerland and CTV Productions, Tunisia.

  • Graduate Film and TV Program at New York University, TISCH School of the Arts
    Master of Fine Arts

  • ​Acting workshops at the University for Music and Theater in Bern (HKB), Switzerland

    Lecturer at the University of Zurich, Graduate Film, Storytelling and Filmanalysis

    Instructor at NYFA in Los Angeles: Screenwriting, Directing

    Executive Managing Director of New York Film Academy, Abu Dhabi Campus, U.A.E.

    Private film instructor for Cheikha Aliazia, daughter of the Minister of Higher Education, U.A.E.

    Instructor at NYFA in Abu Dhabi: Directing, Screenwriting,  Documentary

    Filmmaking, History of Cinema, Film Production, Acting for Film.

    Screenwriter and script consultant on documentaries and fiction projects.

    Teaching a documentary workshop for journalists in Cairo, Pro Helvetia, Egypt.

    Teaching summer programs at the New York Film Academy in Paris, France: Screenwriting, Film Production and Acting for Film.

    Studies of Fundamentalism, Comparative Studies of the Science of Religion.
    University of Fribourg, Switzerland.

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