Hanane Hajj Ali

An artist, researcher, and educator, Hanane Hajj Ali is a major figure of the Lebanese artistic world. Over her forty years of career, she has worked in many theatre and cinema productions, and has long been known for breaking taboos. Her political commitment has led her to fight ceaselessly to defend freedom of expression, as well as for the democratisation and decentralisation of culture in her country. She received the Vertebra Prize for Best Actor at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2017 and the Gilder/Coigney Award, presented by the League of Professional Theatre Women, in 2020. This is her first invitation to the Festival d’Avignon.

Portrait of Hanane Hajj Ali © Nora Noor