Usama Alshaibi

Usama Alshaibi (Arabic: أسامة الشيبي) (born in Baghdad, Iraq on November 20, 1969) is an Iraqi-American independent filmmaker and visual artist.[1]

Usama Alshaibi
Usama Alshaibi in Chicago.
Born (1969-11-20) November 20, 1969
Baghdad, Iraq

Life and career

Starting in early 2004, Alshaibi worked on a documentary on his homeland, and its current situation, titled Nice Bombs. The documentary is Alshaibi's first official release and was produced by Kristie Alshaibi, and executive produced by Studs Terkel. The documentary was funded in part by Creative Capital and the Playboy Foundation. It premiered at the 2006 Chicago Underground Film Festival where it won the Best Documentary Feature award and had Studs Terkel and Christie Hefner introduce the screening. Nice Bombs had a theatrical release in 2007, a broadcast premiere on the Sundance Channel in March 2008 and was released on DVD in October 2009.

His second feature documentary film American Arab, was produced by the Chicago non-profit production company Kartemquin Films with Executive Producer Gordon Quinn.

Alshaibi is the director of several narrative feature-length films, Profane, Muhammad and Jane, Soak, and more than fifty short films. He has also produced and directed numerous music videos for a variety of musicians, including Mahjongg, Silver Jews, Panicsville and Bobby Conn. Alshaibi was the founder and Director of the Z Film Festival (2000–2005) and his short films have toured with author Jack Sargeant's underground film programs. Several of his short films, including The Amateurs, are available on the DVD Solar Anus Cinema.

Usama Alshaibi is interviewed in fellow Chicagoan Studs Terkel's book Hope Dies Last, and he is the elder brother of artist Sama Alshaibi and sociologist Wisam Alshaibi.

Filmography

Feature films

Select Short films
  • Soon (2022)
  • In the Dirt (2020)
  • Here (2020)
  • The Desire (2020)
  • The Muslim Meme (2017)
  • The Flowering (2017)
  • Baghdad, Iowa (2015)
  • My Third Painting (2009)
  • Spoiled (2008)
  • Signal Cross Over (2007)
  • Dream of Samarra (2007)
  • Convulsion Expulsion (2004)
  • The Amateurs (2003)
  • Allahu Akbar (2003)
  • The Foreigner (2001)
  • Dogirl (2000)
  • Dance Habibi Dance (1999)

Select Music videos

Accolades and awards
Year Award Category Title Result
2011 Boston Underground Film Festival Best of Festival Profane Won
2010 Sexy International Film Festival Best International Feature Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography Profane Won
2007 Westchester Film Festival Best Documentary Film Nice Bombs Won
2006 Chicago Underground Film Festival Best Documentary Film Nice Bombs Won
2005 Creative Capital Film Grant Nice Bombs
2004 Chicago Underground Film Festival Made in Chicago Award Bombshell Won

See also

References
  1. Kozarski, Ed:, From Iraq to Iowa, Chicago Reader, published 5 August 2010, retrieved 5 September 2011
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