Al Jazeera is demonized by the United States, yet in Egypt my father would be watching it.

When I hear the words 'activist filmmaking,' I think of somebody who's an activist, who wants to prove a particular point.

There are these very poor communities on the outskirts of Cairo called Mokattam, where a lot of the garbage collectors live. I used to volunteer there, doing health and education work when I was younger and living in Egypt.

If you can laugh with somebody and relate to somebody, it becomes harder to dehumanize them. I think that most of what we are constantly bombarded with in terms of media leads you to a creation of 'the Other' and a dehumanization of 'the Other,' and it's very much an us-versus-them conversation.

It's incredible to see the creativity, beauty and hardships people capture when filmmaking is opened up and shared with the world.

You know, Arabs are critical of United States foreign policy, but they also associate the U.S. with democratic principles and opportunity.

Al Jazeera is one entity that everyone across the Arab world watches. Arabs are proud of that.