Rose Issa is a curator, writer and producer who has championed visual art and film from the Arab world and Iran for nearly 30 years. She has lived in Iran, Lebanon, France and, for the last 25 years, London, where from her private project space in Kensington she showcases upcoming and established artists, and produces exhibitions and publications with public and private institutions worldwide.

Through curating numerous exhibitions and film festivals, she introduced for the first time to Western audiences many of the artists who have since become stars of the international scene, including: Chant Avedissian, Mohamed Ehsai, Shadi Ghadirian, Monir Farmanfarmaian, Bahman Ghobadi, Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Farhad Moshiri, Abbas Kiarostami, Rashid Koraichi and Nja Mahdaoui among many more.

Rose Issa has served as guest curator for numerous private and public institutions, including the Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool (2010); the Beirut Exhibition Center (2010); Tate Britain, London (2008); European Parliament (2008); the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow (2007); the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (2007); ING Bank, Geneva (2007); the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2006); the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin (2004); The CCCB (Contemporary Cultural Centre), Barcelona (2003); IFA - Institut fur Auslandsbezeihungen (2002-3), Germany; Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (1996-1997); the Barbican Art Centre (2001, 1995); and The Leighton House Museum (ongoing, since 1992).

She also advises public and private art institutions on their loans and acquisitions
of contemporary artworks from the Middle East, including The British Museum; the Imperial War Museum; The Museum of Mankind; the Victoria and Albert Museum;
The National Museums of Scotland; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Smithsonian Institution (Sackler/Freer Gallery and National Museum of African Arts); the World Bank, Washington DC; and The National Gallery of Jordan. She was a Jury member for the National Pavillions at the 50th Venice Biennale (2003) and for the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam (2006).

In addition she has collaborated with the Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia (2009); Paul Klee Museum, Bern (2009); and Belvedere Museum, Vienna (2009).
She is also the Director of Beyond Art Production Ltd, which publishes many of her exhibition catalogues.

Film from the Arab World and Iran
In 1982 Rose Issa launched the first-ever Arab Film Festival in Paris and worked with the Delegations Etrangères at the Cannes Film Festival (1983-1985).

For a further 26 years until 2008, she curated Arab and Iranian film seasons in Britain and abroad. She was special advisor to The Berlinale (2003-2007); the International Rotterdam Film Festival (1996-2002); the London International Film Festival (1987-2003); and The British Film Institute (1988-1995). She also curated Arab and Iranian film seasons at The National Film Theatre ("Hollywood on the Nile", 2003; "Art and Life: The New Iranian Cinema", 1999; "First Arab Film Festival", 1987); the Barbican ("Unveiled Lives: Women and Iranian Cinema", 2001; "Melodramas, Comedies, and Mysteries: North African Film", 1995).
In addition she curated a season of Iranian films for Britain's Channel 4 (2005) and collaborated with them on "Cinema Iran", a series of documentaries on Iranian cinema. She also realised the documentary, "Moving Pictures: Tunisian Women Film Directors", for BBC2 TV (1995).