Usama Alshaibi

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

Usama Alshaibi (Template:Lang-ar) (born in Baghdad, Iraq on November 20, 1969) is an Iraqi-American independent filmmaker and visual artist.

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 Alshaibi's wife, fellow filmmaker 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 on October 2009.

Usama Alshaibi is interviewed in fellow Chicagoan Studs Terkel's book Hope Dies Last.

Alshaibi is the director of two narrative feature-length films, Profane and Muhammad and Jane, and more than fifty short films. He has also produced and directed numerous music videos for a variety of musicians, including Mahjongg, 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.

Filmography

Feature films

• American Arab (2013)
• Profane (2011)
• Nice Bombs (2006)
• Muhammad and Jane (2003)
• Soak (2002)

Select Short films

• 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)
• Dance Habibi Dance (1999)

Select Music videos

• Tell The Police The Truth by Mahjongg (2008)
• King for a Day by Bobby Conn (2007)
• Hold My Scissors by Magic is Küntmaster (2004)
• Stabbed in the Face by Panicsville (2003)
• Angels by Bobby Conn (2002)

Accolades

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
2006	Chicago Underground Film Festival	Made in Chicago Award	Nice Bombs	Won

See also

• Iraqi art
• List of Iraqi artists

External links

• Usama Alshaibi at IMDb
• Usama Alshaibi Official Website
• From Iraq to Iowa, Chicago Reader article
• Usama Alshaibi interviewed in Studs Terkel's "Hope Dies Last"