Chawki El Mejri (Source: Babnet website)

Chawki El Mejri is a Tunisian film and TV series producer.

Born on November 11, 1961 in Tunis, El Mejri studied filmmaking in Poland at the same prestigious European school that Roman Polanski attended. Returning to Tunisia, El Mejri did not see his aspirations as a budding movie director immediately fulfilled.

Eventually, he was contacted by Syrian movie and drama professionals who were interested to test his directing skills. Gifted with an innovative talent, El Mejri proved his ability to them and quickly became the favorite of Syrian, Jordanian, and Lebanese producers. His work broke with tradition and brought a new, refreshing life that revolutionized cinematographic work in television series.

He became well known in the Arab world for his fictional dramas, produced by Arab TV channels like MBC. El Mejri also directed a dozen operas, some of which were adapted from Shakespeare. Tej Min Chouk (Thorny Crown), Ikwatou El Tourab (Brothers of Sand), Arwahou El Mouhajira (Migrating Souls), Omar El Khayam, Tarik El Waer (The Tortuous Road), Abnaou Errachid (The Children of Errachid), and El Ijtiyah (The Invasion) were some of his opera productions. He also made the documentary Treble Clef.

In April 2009, El Mejri started work on his first feature film, The Kingdom of Ants, a Tunisian-Syrian production. The movie  touches upon the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was filmed in 2010 in Tunisia, Egypt, and Syria, where he lived at the time. Its release was delayed due to turbulent political events in those countries.

El Mejri received several awards including an Emmy in the soap opera category for the best international drama series for al-Ijtiyah (2007).