Qais Al-Zubaidi is an Iraqi screenwriter, director, cinematographer and editor born in Baghdad in 1945. He studied editing and image at the Higher Institute of Cinema of Babelsberg in Germany. He first worked on German documentaries for the Higher Institute of Cinema and for Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft (DEFA) studio. Many of his documentaries, including Far from the Homeland (1969) and Testimonies of Palestinian Children in Wartime (1972), were shot in Syria and focused on Palestinian people. He has also edited famous Arab films such as Crown of Thorns directed by Nabil Al-Maleh, The Knife directed by Khaled Hamadeh, Beirut, Oh Beirut director by Maroun Bagdadi, and The Night directed by Muhammad Malas.