Hesham Issawi

Hesham Issawi (Arabic: هشام عيسوي‎) is an Egyptian American writer and director. He is best known for his work on the films AmericanEast and Cairo Exit.

Hesham was born in Egypt, moved to the United States in 1990. He attended film school, Columbia College Chicago and Graduated in 1996. He began his career working in 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, won best creative short film in New York Film Festival and best music score in California Film Festival. In 2005, he co-wrote and directed the short film, T for Terrorist, won best short film in both Boston and San Francisco Film Festivals.

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

Hesham lives 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 the censorship rejecting the script. The film was screened at Dubai International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and many other festivals. The film won one future prize at the Filmfest München. The filmwon prizes in Filmfest München and EuropeanIndependent film festival.

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