Youssef Akef is a Dubai-based director and creative director, working across film, events and brand content since 2014. He directed Al Rawy (2026), an Emirati short film written by H.E. Aisha Rashid Al-Hissan Al-Shamsi and commissioned by the Sharjah Institute for Heritage, which premiered as the opening film of the 26th Sharjah International Narrator Forum. He is the founder of The Way Studio.