Franco-Algerian director Damien Ounouri studied filmmaking at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University, while developing his cinema practice in an autodidact way. His graduate film project on Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke, XIAO JIA GOING HOME (2008), was selected for several international film festivals. His first feature film, documentary FIDAI (2012) was co-produced by Jia Zhang-Ke and was screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, before travelling the world (Viennale, MoMA of New York, IDFA, Hong Kong, Durban, Goteborg…), being awarded (Special Mention at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival…) and did theatrical releases in France and Germany. He is also a tutor, conducting cinema workshops.