Mariam Al Ferjani was studying medicine in her native Tunisia when she met Leyla Bouzid and exchanged her medical studies for directing and acting courses at the Civica Scuola di Cinema Luchino Visconti in Milan, where her father was based at the time. Outside of term-time, Al Ferjani headed home to Tunisia to direct and star in experimental shorts THE CLAIM and WINTRY. Alongside her cinema studies, she is also building a following for her photographic self-portraits. Since graduating in 2015, Mariam has been living and working between Tunis and Milan. She plays the lead role in Kaouther Ben Hania’s BEAUTY AND THE DOGS (2017). In Milan, she is currently writing her first fiction feature, ALYAH.