Dana Dajani

Palestinian actor and writer

Dana Dajani is a Palestinian actress and writer. Her performance as a visually impaired woman who regains her sight won her the "Best Actress" award at Tropfest Arabia 2011. The film was co-scripted by her and screened at Cannes Short Film Corner in 2012. Dajani gained further acclaim for her activism for Palestine through artistic work, including her spoken-word poem "Love Letters from Palestine".

Quotes

edit
  • ...I, personally, was drawn to the rhythm and rhyme of spoken word poetry, and I decided to use my theatrical background to bring my poems to life on stage, a sort of “One Woman Show”...
  • ...To create unique characters, I employed voices, gestures, and movement, so I could tell a story from a perspective other than my own...
  • ...It’s one thing for someone to applaud my performance, but what drives me, is when people come and share how they resonated with the message of my words...
  • ...I am a storyteller by nature. Under my mother’s guidance, I grew up immersed in books. Reading was my passion. Naturally, that translated to reading out loud. This, in turn, prepared me for theatre...
  • ...My natural instinct is to explore how to tell a story through character, through metaphor. I write for the stage. This is for words to be heard, not read off the page...