Born in Dubai, Mahdi Fleifel lives and works between Denmark, England and Greece. A graduate of the British National Film & Television School, he studied Fiction Directing under Stephen Frears and Pawel Pawlikowski. In 2010 he founded the London based production company Nakba FilmWorks.

Fleifel's critically acclaimed debut feature, A WORLD NOT OURS, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received over 30 awards, including the Berlinale Peace Prize, the Edinburgh, Yamagata and DOC:NYC Grand Jury Prizes. He was named Best New Nordic Voice at Nordisk Panorama and received the New Talent Award at CPH:DOX.

In 2016 Fleifel won a Silver Bear for A MAN RETURNED which was also nominated for the European Film Awards the same year. His follow up, A DROWNING MAN, was selected in the Official Competition at Cannes and later nominated for a BAFTA. I SIGNED THE PETITION won Best Documentary Short at IDFA and was nominated for the 2018 European Film Awards. 3 LOGICAL EXITS premiered in the 2020 Tiger Shorts Competition at IFF Rotterdam.

I SIGNED THE PETITION is available on the Criterion Channel, and the rest of the works are available on Netflix.