Hesham Issawi

Hesham Issawi is an Egyptian American writer and director. He is best known for his work on the films AmericanEast and Cairo Exit.

Life and career

Hesham was born in Egypt, and moved to the United States in 1990. He attended film school, Columbia College Chicago, and graduated in 1996. He began his career working at a local TV station as an editor and in the documentary world before directing a few short subjects of his own. He wrote and directed the 2004 short film, The Interrogation, which won best creative short film at the New York Film Festival and best music score at the California Film Festival. In 2005, he co-wrote and directed the short film, T for Terrorist, which won best short film at both the Boston and San Francisco Film Festivals.

Hesham's debut feature film, AmericanEast, about the plight of Middle Eastern people in America after 9/11, starred Sayed Badreya, Tony Shalhoub and Sarah Shahi. The movie was screened at the Dubai International Film Festival and won best picture at the Madrid Film Festival, 2008.

Hesham has lived between Cairo and Los Angeles since 2010. Believing in independent cinema, he decided to make Cairo Exit in his homeland. The movie was shot in Cairo with no permits due to the censorship rejecting the script. The film was screened at the Dubai International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and many other festivals. The film won one future prize at the Filmfest München. It won prizes at Filmfest München and the European Independent film festival.

In 2015, he finished his latest film, The Price, which was screened at the Cairo International Film Festival and was released in Egyptian theater later.

Filmography YearTitle Writer Director Producer Notes 2002 Saving the Sphinx 2003 Saving Egyptian Film Classics 2004 The Interrogation Short film 2005 T for Terrorist Short film 2005 Mush Short film 2008 AmericanEast 2010 Cairo Exit 2014 Brother in Terror Documentary 2015 The Price 2019 High Fences Post-production

As editor 2003 - The Mole 2003 - Saving Egyptian Film Classics 2004 - The Interrogation 2005 - T for Terrorist 2005 - Voices of Iraq 2006 - Things You Don't Tell...