Maruan Manaja
Lecturer, Film and New Media
Affiliation: Visiting
Education: Bachelor of Communication Swinburne University
Research Areas: Bedouin Culture, Audi/visual story telling, Middle Eastern cultures, Filmmaking, Documentary making
Maruan Manaja is a filmmaker whose interest focuses on Audio/visual storytelling, photography, and art. Teaching, Maruan focuses on empowering young filmmakers technically to broaden their creative storytelling.
Manaja studied Digital Media at TAFE NSW in 2007 and later completed an MFA course in filmmaking at the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts – Jordan. Manaja also graduated from Swinburne University with a bachelor of communication – Media Studies degree.
Professionally, Manaja works as a technical instructor, a sound engineer, sound and picture editor, and a post-production supervisor in the film industry. Over the past few years, Manaja worked on several well-known short and featured films that gained a lot of attention in the MENA region, such as When Monaliza Smile by Fadi G. Haddad and Mahbas (Solitaire) by Sophie Boutros. Some of the positions that he held onset include Sound Recordist, Boom Operator, Post Production Supervisor, Assistant Editor, and Assistant Camera. He is also a certified Avid Media Composer instructor, the industry standard for film editing.
Currently, Manaja is a lecturer in the Film and New Media program at New York University Abu Dhabi, teaching film-related courses such as Techniques for Safety and Production, Principles of Post Production and Production Sound for film and new media.