ABOUT

Bob Coen is an award-winning filmmaker, author, investigative journalist and former war correspondent. He has spent four decades documenting struggles for social justice and challenging accepted narratives about our world.

The son of Arab-Jewish refugees who were displaced as a result of Zionist political violence and the creation of Israel, he was raised in colonial Africa. His early documentaries chronicled South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle and the post-liberation conflicts of the southern African region. He went on to become CNN’s roaming Africa correspondent, covering war and politics across the continent and received the 1997 Bayeux-Calvados Award for War Correspondents for his reporting on the Liberian civil war.

In 2003 he co-founded Transformer Films in New York City, focusing on investigative documentaries that examine the geopolitics of the 21st Century. Productions include Anthrax War (2009) for ARTE France and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Shadow War in the Sahara (2015) for ARTE France and Aljazeera. Both films were short-listed for the Prix Europa as outstanding documentaries. His films have also been featured by National Geographic, NHK Japan and PBS (American Public Television) and have been recognized with several international awards.

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He co-authored the book Dead Silence - Fear and Terror on the Anthrax Trail which was featured in the New York Times and Publisher's Weekly.

In 2020 he founded Áhkku Vision with the intention of connecting the stories of the Global South and the Far North. Headquartered in Finland, the company is developing a series of documentaries that explore how the themes of colonization, human memory and opposing world views intersect in late-stage capitalism.

He also serves on the board of directors of The Institute for the Healing of Memories NA, an international non-profit dedicated to personal and collective healing.

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