Talal Derki is a Syrian director, producer and screenwriter. The 39-year-old, who was born in Damascus, studied film-making in Athens and graduated in 2003. In 2013, during the making of his critically acclaimed documentary, Return to Homs, Talal fled the war in his home country of Syria, and he now lives in exile in Berlin with his wife and son. It was Talal’s own experience living in exile, combined with his time spent in Greece that inspired him to get involved in the making of Ode to Lesvos. In the same year Return to Homs won the Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema Grand Jury Prize. Talal has also received numerous other awards for his short films and documentaries at festivals across the world. Talal has worked as a journalist and cameraman reporting on the war in Syria for important news agencies and outlets, including Thomson Reuters and CNN. He is a member of the Deutsche Journalistenverband Berlin-Brandenburg (Journalists’ Association of Berlin-Brandenburg).