Zaid Abu Hamdan

Zaid holds an MFA from the New York Film Academy in Hollywood and BA in Communication Arts from the Lebanese American University. Since 2009 Zaid wrote, directed, and produced six award-winning, internationally distributed short films to date. Zaid's films are known to be universal, showcasing stories from various cultures and languages. His film Bahiya & Mahmoud was the first Arab short film to qualify for an Oscar nomination in 2012 by winning Best Of Fest award and the Palm Springs International Shortfest, and has now developed the short into a comedy TV series. In television, Zaid directed, produced and developed a wide range of content at major broadcasters in Los Angeles and the gulf, including children's Sesame Street, Pop Culture news channel E! Entertainment and Sports competition shows in addition to venturing in TV commercials in 2017. Since moving to the UAE in 2016, he filled the freelance position as the lead mentor of filmmaking in the region with Image Nation's Arab Film Studio Narrative and Screenwriting Programs. Zaid is now touring with his first feature film, Daughters of Abdul-Rahman, debuting with an Audience Award win at Cairo International Film Festivals. His second feature film script "Boomah" (previously called The Zarqa Girl) won the biggest development award at the 2021 Red Sea Film Festival Lodge, run by the Torino Film Lab, and is due to commence pre-production early 2023.