<Profile>
Dana Keilani
(Aya in "Border")
Dana Keilani (August 5th 1981) was born in Damascus from Syrian parents. Her dad, an art critic, decided to move with his whole family to Rome, Italy, after his daughter turned one month. Second of five siblings, Dana was raised in the suburbs of the Italian capital by her parents: an established artist and her Mother, Fatina Charaf, that was dealing with a new profession back then, best known as Personal Shopper now, for the Royal family of Saudi Arabia. Growing up in a family where Art was the predominant element, Dana obtained her high school diploma from a Fashion Institute with the highest grade then achieved her University degree as an Interiors Architect and Designer with Laude from the well known roman University La Sapienza.
Passionate about fashion and architecture, Dana started her own line of handbags made with real leather and Damask fabrics, combined in unique pieces exactly in the same way her two cultures cohesist in her life and inspired her.
The beginning of the Syrian war in 2011 slowed down her try to reach her dreams but was the reason that gave her the motivation to start organizing one of the biggest charity event for the refugees that Rome has ever seen, in collaboration with Unesco and Unicef. Dana was one of the producers and organizers of the successful event that was held in occasion of the International Jazz day on the 30th of April 2013.
Few days after meeting the Director Alessio Cremonini in one of the charity events, she started filming Border . Her role, she explained, wasn't far from reality; it wasn't difficult for her playing the role of the older sister that tries to escape from war, even though she never acted before. Border, a movie about two Syrian sisters running for life towards the Turkish borders, was able to raise awareness on the middle eastern war.
Since she's not a professional actress, Dana is nowadays successful in her Interiors Architecture profession, balancing her work with helping the Syrian refugees that keep reaching the Italian border by sea and the collection of clothes that constantly ships to Syria through Lebanon.
