Hisham Bizri (Arabic: هيشام البزري) is a film director, writer, and producer born in Beirut, Lebanon. Bizri began working in film in the US with filmmaker Raoul Ruiz. Bizri has directed over 25 shorts and one feature film. His industry experience includes work as Producer at Future TV (Beirut), Creative Director at Orbit Communications Company (Beirut), and President & Creative Director of Levantine Films (NYC). He previously taught at Brown University, the University of Minnesota, MIT, UC Davis, NYU, Boston University, The School of the Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), and in Lebanon, Korea, Japan, Ireland, and Jordan. His students have gone on to study film at NYU, USC, AFI, UCLA, La Fémis (Paris) and FAMU (Prague).[1]

Hisham Bizri
Born
EducationBoston University, Harvard University, New York University, University of Illinois at Chicago
Occupation(s)Film director, Film producer, Screenwriter, Curator, Professor
AwardsBogliasco Fellowship, 2019

Rome Prize, 2008

Guggenheim Fellowship, 2007

Film career

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Bizri's films have been shown in international venues including Sundance,[2] Cannes, Berlin, Oberhausen, Moscow, and Abu Dhabi film festivals as well as the Louvre, Institut du Monde Arabe, Cinémathèque Française, Centre Pompidou, MoMa, and Anthology Film Archives (NYC). He is recipient of awards from the McKnight, LEF, Jerome, and Rockefeller Foundations, as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Bogliasco Foundation, and American Academy in Rome, which awarded him the "Rome Prize" (FAAR 2009).[1]

Selected films

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Year Title Length Format Notes
1989 The Dream 7 minutes Super-8
1989 The Sun 5 minutes Super-8
1990 The Third of May 9 minutes 16mm film
1990 The Dream of a Ridiculous Man 22 minutes 16mm film
1991 The Leaves of a Cypress 15 minutes Betacam SP
1991 Vertov's Valentine 12 minutes Betacam SP
1992 Message from a Dead Man 20 minutes 16mm film
1997 Mitologies Stereoscopic Cinema
1997 Las Meninas Stereoscopic Cinema
2002 City of Brass 24 minutes Betacam
2002 La Rencontre 28 minutes DV Based on the short story "Emma Zunz" by Jorge Luis Borges.
2002 Chabrol á Biarritz 23 minutes DV Interview with Claude Chabrol
2005 Vertices: Beirut.Dublin.Seoul 32 minutes DV A film for three screens.
2005 Asmahan 21 minutes 35mm film
2008 Song for the Deaf Ear 18 minutes 16mm film/High-definition video Silent but for the last minute
  • Festival Sercine, Aracaju (Sergipe), Brazil
2010 A Film 8.32 minutes 16mm film/High-definition video
  • Minneapolis-Saint Paul Film Festival
  • Pesaro Film Festival 2012
2012 Sirocco 18 minutes 35mm film
  • Oberhausen International Short Film Festival selection for international competition 2012
  • Sundance Film Festival selection in New Frontier Shorts American Competition 2013
  • Twin Cities Arab Film Fest 2013
2016 Beneath the wide wide Heaven 15 minutes 35mm film
  • Oberhausen International Short Film Festival selection for the International Competition 2016
  • 24th Curtas Vila do Conde (Portugal) International Film Festival selection for the Experimental Competition 2016
  • 14th Festival Internacional Signos de la Noche 2016
  • Award Winner: Best Editing. RAIIFA International Film Festival 2016
  • 21st Split Film Festival / International Festival of New Film 2016
  • Finalist, 14th Festival Internazionale Cinema d'Arte 2016 (Milano)
  • Manifesto Film Festival (Amsterdam) 2018
2017 Hisham Bizri Retrospective
  • 12th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival
2017 Night Shift 4.51 minutes music video
  • Best Director, Amarcord Arthouse Film & Video Festival
2017 Shooq aka The Wanderer 42 minutes
2018 Selected shorts
  • 2nd Annual CAVE (Cinematic Audio Visual Experimentation) Film Festival 2018
2019 Of Yellow was the outer Sky 8 minutes
  • 14th Twin Cities Arab Film Festival
2021 Elektra 89 minutes 35 mm film
  • 40th Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival
  • Netflix
  • Apple TV

Awards and honors

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  • Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship (2019)
  • Best Director (Tarkovsky Award) for "Night Shift," Amarcord Arthouse Film & Video Festival (2017)
  • Best Editing Award for "Beneath the wide, wide, Heaven," RAIIFA International Film Festival (2016)
  • Salomon Faculty Research Award, Brown University (2015)
  • Script Station, Berlinale Talent Campus, Berlin International Film Festival (2011)
  • American Academy in Rome "Rome Prize" (2008)
  • McKnight Media Artist Award (2008)
  • Guggenheim Fellowship (2007)
  • Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Fellowship (2005)

References

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  1. ^ a b Hisham Bizri's website Archived 2017-09-10 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 4 October 2015
  2. ^ "New Frontier Shorts Q & A @ 2013 Sundance Film Festival" YouTube Published on 10 February 2013, Retrieved 4 October 2015
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