Pauline Beugnies is an author, photographer, and filmmaker from Charleroi, Belgium. She lived in Cairo for five years, where she learned Arabic, and although she is now based in Brussels, she maintains a strong connection with Egypt.
For over a decade, she has documented youth emancipation through various media, including photography exhibitions, the 2012 web documentary SOUT EL SHABAB (THE VOICE OF YOUTH) for France Culture, the photo book Génération Tahrir (2016), and her first feature-length documentary RESTER VIVANTS, which premiered at Dok Leipzig in 2017, won the SCAM Documentary Award the same year, and was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2018 Magritte Awards.
Her photography work has also received several awards. In 2013, she won the Nikon Press Photo Award for her series BATTIR, THE GREEN INTIFADA.
In 2020, Pauline directed her first fiction film, SHAMS, a short shot in Cairo that received awards at the Brussels Short Film Festival, Mix Milano, Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival, and Cambria Film Festival in California.In 2021, she released her second documentary, SHIFT, which tells the story of a former gig economy delivery rider. The film won awards at FIFE and received the Aïna Roger Prize at FIGRA.
More recently, she contributed to the creation of a theatrical work titled MAWDA, ÇA VEUT DIRE TENDRESSE, based on the story of Mawda, a two-year-old Kurdish girl shot by a Belgian police officer.
In 2022, her feature documentary PETITES, which explores the trauma experienced by children growing up during the Dutroux affair in Belgium, had its world premiere in the International Competition at Hot Docs.
Her most recent short film, PARTOUT LA LUMIÈRE, tells the story of an expatriate living in Cairo.
Pauline is currently working on her first feature-length fiction film C’EST TOUT CE QU’ON AURA, and developing a documentary exploring the figure of the “Arab boy” in cinema.