Nadia Fares biography Egyptian-Swiss Director & Screenwriter
“I'm interested in what people don't say. That's often where the real story begins.”
Born to a Swiss mother and an Egyptian father, Nadia Fares grew up between cultures, languages, and different ways of seeing the world. That experience shaped not only her understanding of identity and belonging, but also the questions that continue to define her work. Whether directing fiction or documentary, she is drawn to characters navigating belonging, power, family, and the search for a place where they can define themselves on their own terms.
A graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned an MFA in Film and Television, Nadia began her career as a fiction filmmaker. Early in her artistic journey, she assisted acclaimed Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski during his acting workshops, an experience that profoundly influenced her approach to directing actors and her conviction that emotional truth often lies beneath what remains unspoken.
Nadia’s breakthrough came with her debut feature, “Honey and Ashes”, which premiered in competition at the Locarno Film Festival and received international critical acclaim and multiple festival awards. Variety described the film as "edgy and intelligent," adding that "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 is considered a cult classic for its groundbreaking portrayal of contemporary Arab women determined to define themselves beyond patriarchal expectations. Its success led to an invitation from ARTE France to write and direct “Small Differences” (Anomalies passagères) as part of the prestigious Masculin/Féminin series. Alongside directors including Mathieu Amalric and Catherine Breillat, she directed the one-hour dramedy about an intersex baby whose arrival turns the parents’ certainty about gender into a revealing comedy of contradictions.
Driven by a desire to better understand human behaviour, Nadia expanded her work as a documentary filmmaker, using real-life encounters to enrich her fiction work. She directed more than twenty documentaries for broadcasters including ARTE France, TV5Monde, and the Swiss public broadcasters RTS, SRF, and RSI. Her investigations took her into unexpected and often challenging environments, from going undercover to interview contract killers in Europe to meeting a jailed jihadist in Africa. These experiences continue to enrich performances that feel authentic, layered, and deeply lived.
Seeking to expand her international career, Nadia moved to Los Angeles, where she secured U.S. representation and developed the drama television series “Young Cleopatra", telling the untold coming-of-age story of Egypt’s last queen. She also wrote the feature screenplay “Diplomatic Corps”, based on a true story. The screenplay was selected for the New York Writers Lab, supported by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman.
On ABC’s Stumptown, she was shadowing the Emmy Award-winning director Marc Buckland, gaining first-hand experience of the U.S. episodic television directing process and further developing her work as a television director, including preparation, production workflow, and the pace of network television.
She also directed the five-part documentary series “Swiss Stories in L.A.”, following a bodyguard, an artist, a dance teacher, a student, and an architect pursuing the California dream. The acclaimed series was broadcast on national television in Switzerland, France, and Germany.
With her production company AfterAll Films, Nadia co-produced the award-winning documentary feature “Big Little Women”, a deeply personal film intertwining her own family history with seventy-five years of women's struggles in Egypt and Switzerland. Bringing together pioneering feminist Nawal El Saadawi, a younger generation of activists, and the filmmaker herself, the film explores identity, memory, and resistance through an intimate cinematic lens. It received multiple international awards and screened at festivals and cultural institutions across Europe, the Middle East, and the United States.
Nadia’s current slate includes the feature films “Hidden House”and “Diplomatic Corps”, as well as the international television series “Young Cleopatra".
Whether working in fiction or documentary, she creates emotionally resonant films that challenge assumptions, bridge cultures, and reveal the humanity that connects us.
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Director, writer, co-producer of the feature doc film "Big Little Women"
Luna films & AfterAll Films CairoDirector of the series "Swiss Stories in L.A."
RTS, SRF, RSI & Framevox, Switzerland
5 episodesWriter 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 & FramevoxWriter & Creator of a TV - Series "Young Cleopatra"
WK Productions, USADirector, writer of "Checkpoint Tunisia" documentary
Framevox & RTS, SwitzerlandDirector, 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.