Anisa Mehdi

Who is Anisa Mehdi?

Anisa Marie Mehdi is a film director and journalist. She is of half Iraqi and half Canadian descent. Her main focus when producing documentaries or programmes lie within religion, as her most notable documentary was Inside Mecca, which was produced by National Geographic. Many of her works have appeared on PBS, ABC News, and CBS. Besides being a director and reporter, she is also founder and president of Whetstone Productions, and is Professor of Communications at Seton Hall University. Anisa is reported to be the first Canadian woman to cover the Hajj for broadcast in the United States. As executive producer of the PBS "Frontline" special Muslims, she received the 2002 Cine Golden Eagle Award.

She is currently working on a project about young Muslim and Christian people in Algeria, working together to achieve peace. As well as producing more documentaries, she is also writing a biography on her father, Dr. Mohammad T. Mehdi, who is believed to be the first Arab American activist in the United States. In 2007, Mehdi and two other writers launched the Arab Writers Group Syndicate.

She currently lives in Maplewood, New Jersey.