Biography

Hussein Hassan Ali is a well-known director, writer, and actor from Kurdistan, Iraq. In 2006 he shot his first feature film “Narcissus Blossom” which was screened at the Panorama section at the 56th Internationale Film Festspiele Berlin and at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was awarded the Amnesty International Film Prize at the Berlinale. In 2009 Hassan Ali finished his second feature film as writer and director called “Herman” which premiered at Pusan International Film Festival. He directed 29 episodes of the Kurdish TV Drama “Dilan” for KurdSat in 2008. From 2009 to 2010 he directed ten episodes of the KurdSat TV-Drama “My Dream”. Although constantly working on his own film projects, Hassan Ali is also a successful actor. He played the leading role in Shawkat Amin Korki’s award-winning film “Crossing the Dust” (2006) as well as in Korki’s equally successful film “Memories on Stone” (2014). In the same year, he acted in Batin Ghobadi’s “Mardan” (2014) which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was the official “Oscar” suggestion for Iraq. Hassan’s film (2016) “Reseba: The Dark Wind” won several prestigious prizes, including UNESCO Award at the Asian Pacific Screen Awards, the Muhr Award at the Dubai International Film Fest (2016), and the FIPRESCI Prize at Dhaka International Film Festival (2017). In 2019 Hussein shot his first international project in the English language in the Finnish TV series “Peacemaker” streaming online now