Assia Boundaoui

Assia Boundaoui is an Algerian-American journalist and filmmaker based in Chicago. Her acclaimed directorial debut, “The Feeling of Being Watched,” investigates one of the largest pre-9/11 counterterrorism surveillance operations in the U.S. The film premiered at the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival and aired nationally on PBS. Boundaoui was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 2018 “25 New Faces of Independent Film” and has held fellowships including the 2019 New America National Fellowship and 2023 Soros Equality Fellowship. Her honors include the 2020 Livingston Award and 2022 United States Artists award. As a fellow at MIT Open Documentary Lab's Co-Creation Studio, she developed the Inverse Surveillance Project, a community-driven, AR-based installation. Her latest short film, “Estranged Letters,” premiered at the Chicago International Film Festival as a co-production of Firelight Media and PBS’s “American Masters.” She holds a M.A. in journalism from New York University.