Rifat Audeh –an award winning filmmaker- was born in Canada, and his family is originally from Palestine.
He graduated with a Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from Ryerson University in Toronto, and a Masters degree in Media and Journalism -with distinction- from Newcastle University in the UK, and alternated between various careers.
He is a lifelong human rights and media activist, and a freelance journalist. He helped co-found a media activist group in Michigan in the early 2000s to monitor bias and propaganda in the media. His writings have been published in numerous papers and websites.
He has also worked with various UN agencies, NGOs and human rights organizations, helping document abuses and human rights violations.
He participated in the 2010 Freedom Flotilla [i.e. the topic of his film], in which he not only witnessed the attack upon the flotilla, but was shot and injured during the attack as well. He also participated in the 2009-2010 Lifeline convoy to Gaza. His film "The Truth: Lost at Sea" is his first. He obtained the Best Written Dissertation Award from Newcastle University, for his Masters dissertation on the topic of his film.
His film won the Audience Award at the 2018 Al Ard Documentary Film Festival in Italy, the Mediterranean Special Award at the 2018 Lebanese Independent Film Festival, the International Eye Award at the 2018 Human Rights International Film Festival in Bolivia, the Best Feature Documentary Award at the 2018 Cuzco Underground Cinema Festival in Peru, the Best Film: Human Security Award at the 2018 We The Peoples Festival in the UK, the Best Feature Documentary Award at the 2019 Merida Film Festival in Mexico and the Award for Best Documentary at the 2019 Symi International Film Festival in Greece. It also received an Honorable Mention at the 2018 YES! Let's Make a Movie Festival in Canada, and was nominated for the Feather Award for Best Documentary at the 2017 Karama Human Rights Film Festival in Jordan.