Born in Germany, Monika Borgmann studied Arabic and Political Sciences in Bonn and Damascus. From 1990 to 2001, she worked in the Middle East and North Africa as a freelance journalist for German radio and “Die Zeit.” Monika Borgmann holds dual German/Lebanese citizenship and is the author of Saïd Mekbel, une mort à la lettre (Dar Al-Jadeed Publications 2008, Lebanon and Téraèdre Éditions 2013, France).

Born in Lebanon, Lokman Slim studied philosophy in Paris. After returning to Lebanon, he founded the Dar al-Jadeed publishing house, where he offered established, controversial and new writers opportunities to engage with the public. Lokman Slim is an essayist and leading spokesman for the preservation of Lebanese history and advancement of its culture.

Monika Borgmann and Lokman Slim began collaborating in 2001 when they co-directed the feature documentary Massaker (2004, 99 min.).

The film was screened at more than sixty international film festivals and was released to the cinema in France and Greece in 2006. Massaker received seven awards, including the Fipresci Prize at the 2005 Berlinale.

They also co-founded UMAM Productions in 2001, an organization that has since co-produced a series of Lebanese documentaries.
While researching their work on Massaker, Borgmann and Slim realized that Lebanon had neither a central archive nor a national library. In response, they launched UMAM Documentation and Research in 2004, a Lebanese NGO that focuses on issues related to civil violence and the collective memory of the Lebanese civil war. UMAM D&R continues to collect, preserve and disseminate important and representative aspects of Lebanon's culture and history.