Egyptian filmmaker, writer and producer Tamer El Said lives and works in Cairo. He studied Film Directing at the High Institute of Cinema, graduating in 1998 with Honourable Mention, and received his Diploma in 2002. He has worked as 1st AD on some of Egypt’s bigger feature films, directed commercials, taught and worked as a producer for a number of production companies. He has directed numerous award winning shorts and documentaries. Work on his first feature, In the Last Days of the City, started in 2008. The film was shot in Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut, Baghdad and Berlin and brings together many upcoming talents from the Arab world. In 2007 he founded his own company Zero Production, an independent production company in Cairo. Zero Production supports independent filmmakers in Cairo and the region whether directly producing, lending equipment or offering work space. El Said is currently in the process of setting up, with Khalid Abdalla and others, Cimatheque, an alternative film centre that will offer services and space to help develop and incubate the independent film movement in Cairo through building networks, sharing resources and building an infra-structure for the alternative film platform.