Mohanad Hayal

Mohanad Hayal was born in 1985 in Iraq. After graduating from Baghdad University's Faculty of Fine Arts with a cinema degree, he gained considerable production experience by working on several feature films and participating in film workshops across the world. His films have been supported by and officially selected in various international film festivals including Berlinale, Venice, Tribeca, Göteborg, Hayal's first feature film Haifa Street (2019) won the Best Film Award at the Busan International Film Festival, as well as the best film and actor awards at the Cairo International Film Festival. and he received the Rising Star Award from Rhode International Film Festival USA in 2014 Hayal has worked as an independent film producer in Iraq for over 10 years and, along with other Iraqi filmmakers, founded the Iraqi Independent Film Center. He also held the position of Cinema Department Director at the Iraqi ministry of culture, spearheading the Baghdad Grant for Independent Films since 2019. In his latest endeavor, he executive produced and co-wrote the Iraqi TV series The Red Zone (2021). By: Mohanad Hayal