Maha Haj

Maha Haj was born in 1970 in Nazareth

Maha Haj was born in Nazareth in 1970. Both of her parents were communist activists, and she attended the Baptist Christian school in the city.

Influenced by her father, she first studied pharmacy, but moved to literature after a year. She earned a BA in English and Arabic literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MA in language and literature at the University of Haifa. She then worked as a teacher and wrote and made art in her free time.

She entered film as a set designer, script doctor and art director, working on The Time That Remains, The Attack, Arabani and Over the Hilltop. In 2009 she wrote and directed the short film Burtuqal, followed by the documentary Within These Walls in 2010.

Her film Personal Affairs premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2016 and won the feature film prize at the Haifa International Film Festival. To receive public funding from the Israeli Film Fund, she agreed to release it as an Israeli film under rules set by Culture Minister Limor Livnat. In 2022 Mediterranean Fever won the screenplay prize in the same Cannes section, and in 2024 her short Upshot won a prize at the El Gouna Film Festival.