Philip Rachid

At the age of 5, Philip was already performing and touring on stage with the Kurdish band Awara, he has been developing his arts ever since. Since 1997, he professionally acted in various award winning Dutch Drama series and movies like "Loverboy" (2002), "Sea of Fire" (2008), which is now sold to the American ABC Channel and "Cop vs Killer"(2012) to name a few. As a dancer, Philip toured around the world, with artist like Kurtis Blow, Afrika Bambaattaa and MC Lyte and danced for brands like Lee, Levis, adidas, Reebok, Nike, and created his own theatre play, "The Way of the Warrior" which premiered in Lyon in 2012". He also was the co- founder of "Rock Ya Soul Session". A Street Culture event. The multi talented Philip Rachid made the decision to develop his writing and directing abilities, following in the footsteps of his father, the Kurdish writer and historian, professor Jamal Rachid Ahmed. In 2011 Philip earned a Master diploma in screenwriting with his "Jamal & The Soul Warrior" script, mentored by Robert Alberdingk Thijm at the Mediafonds/Binger Film Institute in Amsterdam. He has filmed a documentary about Street kids in Cleveland, which was produced by Oscar winning producer Gerard Cornelisse. After that, Philip made Dubai his base and created his first film "Zol'a" on a FlipCam HD in Kurdistan, which premièred at the Duhok International Film Festival, screened at the Anthology Film Archives in New York and was nominated at the International Kurdish Youth Festival in San Diego in 2013. In 2014 Philip mentored and choreographed children with autism in the UAE for the Musical "As One" which was produced by ImageNation and directed by Hana Maki & Emmy Award winning Tricia Regan and Initiated by her HIghness Sheikha Shamsa Bint Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He had the honor to be chosen to participate in private lectures/workshops by film maker Spike Lee, Hollywood producer Ashok Amritraj, Emirati Film Maker Nayla Al Khaja and Norman B Schwartz. Philip was picked as one of the finalist in the Arab Film Studio 2014 in the UAE with "The Moonlight Rider" film project. Recently he won the Dubai International Film Festival / Samsung Short Film competition with his film "Happy Birthday". Which is entirely filmed on a Samsung Note4 phone. The latest film, Philip Rachid directed, is a #MYDUBAI commissioned short film "The Journey is the Destination", which also premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival 2014.