Hamza Mendil

Biography: Hamza Mohamed Anis Mendil, a marine biologist by training and a diving instructor, was born in 1987 in the coastal city of Ténès, Algeria. The grandson of a professional diver from the 1960s and 70s, he learned his passion for the sea from his grandfather, which later led him to study oceanography. Currently a doctoral candidate in the field, he and several colleagues have founded a production company that creates educational documentaries about Algerian and Mediterranean marine ecological heritage, as well as other products (short films, animations, and reports) shared with various schools in the country. Through his studies and his work, Hamza Mendil strives to instill in younger generations, through informative and educational documentaries, the importance of preserving marine biodiversity and universal biological heritage. In 2017, he directed his first feature film after two medium-length films on the same subject. “The Houses of the Sea” is the first Algerian documentary of its kind and it was awarded the Bronze Palm in the Pro category at the World Festival of Underwater Images in Marseille.