Essam Al-Shammari

Is an Iraqi film and television director and producer from Baghdad. He started his journey in film in 2007 and gained a vast experience working and taking workshops at the Iraqi Independent Film Center, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, and on the set of dozens of short films and several feature films as assistant director and production manager, including Path of Mariam by Atia Al-Darraji, Farewell Nineveh by Farouk Dawood, Salvation by Bennet of Brabandere, The Journey by Mohamed Al-Darraji, and Another Day in Baghdad by Mason Pachchi. Essam also worked as an executive director and production manager on many documentaries for Al Jazeera and other television channels covering stories on the battles of liberation, security forces, and daily reality of the Iraqi society. In 2019 he started his own film production and distribution company in Baghdad Black Horse working on several local films as a producer while continuing working with television channels as a director and show-runner. Essam has directed and written screenplays for three short films such as Labour, which took awards at the Ministry of Youth Film Festival and Kam International Film Festival in Cairo, Hypotheses and Rite, which won a special arbitration award for the best film at the Ministry of Youth Film Festival, and CONTAMINATED.