After advanced level studies in Photography and Sociology, I completed a three-year BA (Honours) Degree in Film and Photographic Arts at the Polytechnic of Central London; I graduated in 1985. This historic Polytechnic—which in 1896 hosted the first exhibition of Lumière Brothers' films and in the 1960s initiated the first British degree course in Photography—later became the University of Westminster. The influential film course was moved out of central London to Harrow. In my day, however, we had a five-storey building at the top of Lower Regent Street, in the West End of London.

Immediately after graduating, I edited several experimental shorts, and in 1986 I cut a making-of documentary for Alex Cox's punk feature Sid and Nancy.
 
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In the 1980s and 1990s, I worked as a freelance film editor in London, principally on Channel Four productions and at BBC Elstree Studios with the legendary film producer Paul Watson. At this time, nearly all my work was done on 16mm film. A decade later, I cut for television again, in Mexico City, for Canal Once.
 
See my main credits on IMDb.com

I am the producer, photographer, editor and sound designer of the documentary The Colour of Olives (Carolina Rivas, Mexico-Palestine,  2006, 97 min.); the producer, co-director (with Carolina Rivas), photographer, composer, editor and sound designer of the documentary Lessons for Zafirah (Mexico, 2011, 75 min.); and the producer, co-director (with Carolina Rivas), co-writer (with Carolina Rivas), photographer, art director, colourist, editor and sound designer of the fiction feature1 for 1 (Mexico-Spain, 2013, 97 min.) Between them, these films have won 15 prizes in the USA, Russia, Cuba, Mexico, Belgium and France.

All three films were made through Creadores Contemporáneos, my and Ms Rivas' Mexican production company.
 
See my main credits on IMDb.com

I am the producer (with Carolina Rivas) and supervising editor of Videovalores—an innovative cinematographic project that changes our perception of cinema, opening access to the creation of short films to anyone who wishes to participate. 

Videovalores has been supported in Spain by 'la Caixa' Obra Social, Filmoteca of Catalunya, Filmoteca of Spain, and CCCB among many other partners. In Berlin, it was supported by Migration Hub Network and Cervantes Institute Berlin, and in Amsterdam by European Cultural Foundation.

This dynamic film creation workshop aims to stimulate the production of short films that explore possible scenarios of a better world, through the knowledge and practice of universal values: values such as tolerance, respect and freedom. In the manner of a film 'postcard', a Videovalores film transmits a universal value accompanied by a final phrase, in the form of a 'P.S.', which synthesises poetically the message the director wishes to transmit.

Videovalores workshops have produced 50 films in Spain and Germany. We are currently planning new editions in other countries. In 2019, Crevices, by Syrian filmmaker and Berlin resident Dyaa Naim, won a Plural+ Youth Video Festival award in New York. In 2020, Sasha Benarie's Intimacy of Social Distancing won the Best "2020 Vision" award at Screen Culture Film Festival, London.

Apart from editing all the Videovalores films with their directors, I have also directed seven of my own.

Go to Videovalores
See my main credits on IMDb.com

Films I have produced and edited have won the following prizes:

Videovalores
My credits: Producer, Editor/Supervising editor, Sound Designer

Crevices (Dyaa Naim, 2018)
2019. Plural+ Danube MEC Award, PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival, US
PLURAL+ is a joint initiative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations and the International Organisation for Migration
Intimacy of Social Distancing: A Trilogy (Sasha Benarie, 2020)
2020. Best "2020 Vision", Screen Culture Film Festival, London
2020. Best Lockdown Film, Screen Culture Film Festival, London

Lessons for Zafirah
My credits: Producer, Co-director, Photographer, Composer, Editor, Sound Designer

2013. Best Documentary, Latin American Film Festival van Vlaanderen, Belgium
2013. Human Rights Prize, Latin American Film Festival van Vlaanderen, Belgium
2011. Best Film, Mexico Today, FICUNAM, Mexico
2012. Best International Documentary (3rd prize), Cine Pobre Festival, Cuba
2012. Best Film, Young Jury Award, Anûû-rû âboro, New Caledonia
2011. Honorary Mention, Best Mexican Documentary, DocsDF, Mexico
2011. Honorary Mention, Best Mexican Documentary, Puebla Film Festival, Mexico
2011. Honorary Mention, Best Mexican Documentary, José Rovirosa Prize, Mexico

The Colour of Olives
My credits: Producer, Photographer, Editor, Sound Designer

2008. Special Mention, Cine Pobre Festival, Cuba
2008. Honorary Mention, Todas las Voces Contra el Silencio, Mexico
2007. Special Mention, Cancún Riviera Maya Film Festival, Mexico
2007. Best Direction Documentary, Golden Minbar, Russia
2007. Artistic Vision, Big Sky Documentary Festival, USA
2006. Courage in Filmmaking, Women Film Critics Circle Awards, US
2006. Special Mention Sound, Docúpolis, Spain

Watch my showreel
See my main credits on IMDb.com

I am a writer who designs his own books:

Gaza: The Power to Live will be published in September 2025. More here.

Ukraine at War: Street Art, Posters + Poetry was published in October 2023. More here.

Bosnian War Posters was published in May 2022. More here.

Hairan (working title) was published in November 2024. More here.

ABC of Film & Video Editing is currently in the final stages of being edited. More here.

I am the editor, designer (and publisher of the first edition) of Film Step by Step: Methodology of Self-knowledge (Creadores Contemporáneos, 2010, and Editorial Autografía, 2020), by Carolina Rivas—for which I also wrote the foreword.

I have written extensively for various print and on-line publications, most notably about Mexico—where I lived between 2002-11—for Eye Magazine, London.

In Mexico City, I wrote a series of texts about Palestine for Proceso. Other miscellaneous articles have been published in various newspapers, journals and magazines.

I have taught film editing since 2006. At first in Mexico, and now in Spain. For nine years, I was the head of editing at La Casa del Cine, Barcelona, where I gave classes between 2012 and 2020. I also teach privately to individuals and small groups.  

My methodology is to teach the software through practical necessity. After a brief discussion of the key creative, and even philosophical, issues connected with film editing—plus an introduction to the non-linear editing (NLE) software—I present my students with a series of real film projects that cover all the main genres: fiction, documentary, experimental, music, trailer, multi-camera. These projects increase in difficulty, the more extended the course runs. The emphasis is on being a capable and intelligent film editor, and the software is learnt as a tool to enable that. Learning to be a film editor is not just learning software; it is learning to see, think, feel, structure and write in images and sound.  

I usually teach in Adobe Premiere Pro, and on longer courses also teach Adobe Audition for more professional sound production—although, on all courses, long or short, equal time is dedicated to image and audio editing.

My students have said:

English

I highly recommend this course. I had no former experience (and am not tech-savvy), but Daoud is not only an acclaimed filmmaker but a good teacher. The course is very well-structured and clearly presented—and I surprised myself at what I produced. It has been a perfect initial introduction on both a technical and a human level. An excellent inter-relation between software and the spirit of editing. Congratulations!

Carlos

I can say that I am very satisfied with the course. I loved the emphasis on narrative strategies and design of experiences as more important than the technical elements of the software - which were also more than adequate and were introduced effectively and accurately.

Luca

The course definitely exceeded my expectations. The teacher's ideas make you love your work and appreciate the value of editing.

Francisca

Spanish

El curso es muy completo y práctico. El profesor es, no sólo un excelente editor, sino también un gran maestro, y muy accesible. El curso me preparó muy bien. Digamos que estoy lista para editar.

Annie

 Estoy muy contenta con el taller. Lo que más me gustó fue el aprender la forma de trabajar correctamente, no ir a ciegas e ir tocando los botones.

Sandra

Un curso muy bueno porque no sólo parte de enseña a usar un programa de edición que es la herramienta, sino el trabajo que se hace como editor basado en los principios de montaje todo esto por medio de prácticas que te dan noción del trabajo. Además de las prácticas Daoud va enseñándote las técnicas que él usa a la hora de editar.

Maries

I enjoy designing books, posters, presentations—mostly for my own needs, unless someone explicitly asks me to design something for them. I generally work in Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.

My most notable editorial design projects to date are my books: Gaza: The Power to Live; Hairan; Ukraine at War; Bosnian War Posters. Also, Cine Paso a Paso (by Carolina Rivas).

For other independent authors, I have also designed and typeset The Strauss-Dynasty (Volumes 1 to 5, by Claus Kegel), and Chekhov Restored, adapted by Jo Blatchley.

For nearly five years, between the summer of 1995 and the end of 1999, I dedicated myself to the cataclysmic events taking place in the former Yugoslavia. The violent breakup of Yugoslavia started many years before, but it wasn't until the massacre in Srebrenica, Bosnia, that I got involved. I drove aid to Tuzla from Britain in October 1995 with a convoy called Worker's Aid; made another humanitarian trip between December 1995-January '96, when I also visited Sarajevo before the end of the siege; and returned for a third time to Tuzla with Worker's Aid in the summer of 1996. 

In mid-1997 I went to live in Tuzla, where among other things I started making  the only complete collection of Bosnia's war-time graphic art, intending to publish a book of locally created images about the war. That book, Evil Doesn't Live Here: Posters from the Bosnian War, was finally published in New York and London at the end of 2001. It was a tremendous international success.

I lived in Bosnia until the end of 1998, but returned to the region in the spring of 1999, to Skopje, North Macedonia, where I worked for International Medical Corps (IMC) during the neighbouring Kosovo War. I left Skopje in December 1999.