Anisa Mehdi, Artistic Director of “Documentary Voices,” is an Emmy award-winning journalist and filmmaker specializing in religion and the arts.  She is President of Whetstone Productions, a boutique production and consulting firm based in New Jersey. 

Mehdi’s commitment to peace in the Middle East is a lifelong passion, having grown up in an interfaith (Muslim-Christian) home; sheremains an active voice in Arab-American politics.  She’s reported news from and made documentary films in Algeria, Egypt, France, Iran, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey and the USA.  Her National Geographic Special Inside Mecca is recognized as a classic film on the Hajj; her PBS Frontline film Muslims shows the cultural, economic, social and political diversity of Muslims around the world.  For ABC News Nightline Mehdi produced a series of programs on Muslim views about faith and non-Muslim cultures, and on stereotyping in popular media.  She is the winner of two Emmys, a CINE Golden Eagle, and numerous prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Anisa Mehdi teaches documentary film at Seton Hall University, is media strategist for the Abraham Path Initiative (www.abrahampath.org), senior consultant to Britain’s CTVC, and co-curator for an exhibition on Christian, Buddhist and Islamic pilgrimage at the College of the Holy Cross.  She is a speaker specialist for the US Department of State’s International Information Programs.  Mehdi leads inter-religious discussions and workshops at the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.  She is a popular lecturer on Islam and the media, Muslim women, Islam in America, and Middle East conflict resolution.  A Trustee of the Esalen Institute (www.esalen.org) in Big Sur, CA, she is developing interfaith workshops and Track II Diplomacy programs with special focus on Iran.  During her career in news and documentary film, Mehdi has worked with Ted Koppel, Dan Rather, Bill Moyers, Morley Safer, and Meredith Vieira. 

Her current film-in-production “Monks and Muslims: Finding Faith in Algeria,” is funded in part by the United States Institute of Peace and the William & Mary Greve Foundation. 

Mehdi holds a Masters Degree in Journalism from Columbia University and B.A. cum laude in Spanish Language and Literature from Wellesley College.  She lives in New Jersey with her husband and two daughters.  She is a Trustee of the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and sits on the Board of Directors of Music for All Seasons.  She plays flute and piccolo in the Livingston Symphony Orchestra.

www.anisamehdi.com