About Talal

Background
Talal Al-Muhanna is an independent filmmaker and media/arts producer who was born in Kuwait and later raised in England and the United States. Prior to being involved in Film & TV production he was a performing artist - having received his professional training at the Elmhurst School in England and at North Carolina School of the Arts in the U.S.A. While still a student in the U.K., Talal appeared at the Royal Festival Hall, the Duke of York Theatre in London's West End and on the BBC children's television programme Blue Peter.

As a performer, Talal has appeared in numerous theatrical stage productions in the United States, Europe and Asia - including West Side Story, The Merchant of Venice and Faust. He has worked with choreographers Eliot Feld, Jai Gonzales, Amanda Miller (Pretty Ugly) and William Forsythe - whose company he appeared with at the opening of the TATE Modern in London in 2000.

As an arts producer, Talal has developed and produced numerous live concerts, performances and media installations involving dance, drama, music, film and video art. He has curated film screenings and performing arts programs for venues and festivals throughout Europe, including in Germany for Ballett Frankfurt/Das TAT, the Frankfurt Culture Committee, TANZinternational and Forum Neue Art (Heidelberg); in Holland for the Korzo Theater; in Finland for Zodiak Center for New Dance; and in Ireland for Daghdha Dance Companyand the DanceHouse.

As a filmmaker, Talal has been involved in film and video productions in various roles (as director, producer, editor) and in genres ranging from experimental narrative and installation-based works to fiction and documentary. He holds both a BA (1st Class Honours) and MA (Distinction) in Film & Moving Image Production from the Northern Film School/Leeds Metropolitan University in the U.K. - degrees in which he specialized in directing and producing.

Talal's film projects have been developed in places as diverse as Kuwait, Bahrain, Germany, France, Ireland, India, China, the U.K. and United States and his work has been screened at numerous festivals internationally and on the BBC Big Screen in the U.K.  He has produced for TV programmes that have been aired on Al Jazeera Documentary Channel & TV5Monde.