Interviews/ Articles
Interview with Studs Terkel
Interview with Ray Pride
'Nice Bombs' review by Michael Phillips
"Bringing the War Home" Time Out Chicago
"Back to Baghdad," Chicago Tribune
Interview with Albert Hofer
Artist Profile by Anthony Kaufman
Links
Featured in Bad Lit
Featured in Vice blog
Interview with Vishnevetsky
Artvamp LLC
Films in Progress
Profane
American Arab
"Usama Alshaibi... demon engineer,
who like an alchemist transmuted my slovenly, drossy tapes into gold."
-Studs Terkel, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? page xiii
[PDF of CV]
SELECTED AWARDS & GRANTS
Kartemquin Films Diversity Fellowship; September 2009 to present.Best Documentary Feature, Chicago Underground Film Festival, 2006
Creative Capital Foundation for the Arts Grant; 2005
Playboy Foundation Grant for Documentary Film; 2005
Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Award; 2005
Tribeca All Access (TAA) Connects Program; Tribeca Film Institute; 2005
Made in Chicago Award, Chicago Underground Film Festival, 2004
City of Chicago, Community Arts Assistance Programs Grant; 2004
Chicago Underground Film Fund Grant; 2003
Kudzu Eyeball Music Video Showcase award; 2000
SELECTED PRESS
'Nice Bombs' review by Ronnie Scheib, Variety, July 10, 2007
"Going Home To Understand War" by Bruce Bennet, New York Sun, Jully 11, 2007
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader, Critics Choice for Nice Bombs , August 11, 2006
"Filmmaker visits his native Iraq; focus on aging", by Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, August 11, 2006
"Bringing the war home," Time Out Chicago, by Jason Mojica, August 10-16, 2006
''Muhammad and Jane' film review Erin Anadkat, Micro-Film Magazine #7, Spring 2005
'"Back to Baghdad,' by Rob K. Elder Chicago Tribune, November 18, 2004
'"American Prejudice: Arab Films Try to Breakthrough Bias" Anthony Kaufman, Indiewire, Nov. 2004
"Visions From the Arab World: Video Babylon" by Barbara Scharres, Gene Siskel Film Center Gazette, Nov. 2004
''On Film: from the Web to the screen, two fests in one," Chicago Reader, by Lee Gerstein, December 2000
MEDIA APEARANCE
WGN Morning News, television interview, August 17, 2006
PBS, Chicago Tonight, WTTW 11, television interview with Phil Ponce, August 15, 2006
Podcast Interview with Madge Weinstein on YeastRadio.com, Sirius Satellite Radio, July 12th, 2005
Interview with Steve Edwards on Eight Forty-Eight, Chicago Public Radio, December 17, 2004
"Metropolis"; Arte (French-German Television magazine); October 16, 2004; producer Nico Weber
GUEST SPEAKER
Jeremy Deller's It Is What It Is: Conversations about Iraq, guest participant, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago Fall 2009
Artist in Residence at Extrapool in Nijmegen, Netherlands March, 2009
The War in Iraq: Impact and Influence in Chicago. Panel with Kathy Kelly, Chicago History Museum, March, 2007
IFP Chicago Midwest Filmmakers Summit; “Docs in Chicago: Nice Bombs, Case Study” moderated by Gordon Quinn (Kartemquin Films,) with producer Ben Berkowitz, October 27-29, 2006
Guest Speaker, School of the Art Institute Chicago, "Demystifying the Arab World: World War I to the Present", Chicago, IL; professor Noha Forster; December 10, 2004
Q&A at the Gene Siskel Film Center; VIDEO BABYLON (Iraqi Video Showcase); Chicago; November 20, 2004
Guest lecturer, Art Media Studies and Computer Art; Syracuse University; Syarcuse, NY; professor Heath Hanlin; September, 2004
DVD RELEASES
"Nice Bombs" feature documenatry with shorts and extra footage; (Cinema Obscura) 2009
"Solar Anus Cinema" Alshaibi film collection; 81min (Holy Mountain Video & Artvamp) 2009
"Dream of Samarrah" Cinema Abattoir, A Rebours, 2008
"Hold My Scissors" Experiments in Terror 2, Other Cinema, 2007
"Ass" Cinema Abattoir, L'érotisme, 2007
"Convulsion Expulsion" Cinema Abattoir, Incarnation, 2007
'Dance Habibi Dance' Movieside Film Festival, 20 Award Winning Short FIlms, 2006
"Allahu Akbar" RESISTANCE[S]: Experimental films from the Middle East (lowave) 2006
'Venereal Video' Shorts Compilation, (Artvamp) 2005- out of print
"Muhammad and Jane" +3 shorts (Artvamp) 2003- out of print
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS, PRINT & WEB
"Smut Vol.2" paperback book published by Nerve.com, front cover photograph (2009)
"Visions of Discord," Group Show (paintings, video) Co-Prosperity Sphere,Chicago, February 2008
Nerve.com, Photography, "Red Hot" (2007) , "The LIne of Beauty" (2006) "Dressed to Kill" (2006)
"USA is boring," model: Naomi Z, page 4: hello, Lumpen Magazine issue99, March 2006
"It's Not The Bullet That Thrills, It's The Hole," F.I.N Arts; New York City, NY; June-July 2003 (photography, video)
"Pawn," G'factor Studio; group show; Chicago, IL, May 2002, (video w/ Kristie Alshaibi)
“Plan B,” group show, Chicago IL, 1998 (performance, paintings)
University of Iowa; Checkered Space, solo exhibition; Iowa City, IA, 1991 (paintings, drawings)
CURATORIAL & JUROR
Juror; 30th Annual Big Muddy Film Festival ; Carbondale; Illinois; 2008
Juror; Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP); Chicago; Illinois; 2005
Juror; 72 Hour Feature Project; Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL; 2003
Juror; eKsperim[E]nt3 Film Festival; Manila, Philippines; 2003
Curator; Projections in Heaven; The Heaven Gallery; Chicago, Illinois; March 2001
Program Director; The Z Film Festival; Chicago, Illinois; December 2000 to 2005
Co-Director; Undershorts Film Festival; The Music Box Theatre; Chicago, Illinois; February 1999
SELECTED SCREENINGS (2006-2009)
Extrapool in Nijmegen, Netherlands March 20, 2009Printers' Ball, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago August 2008
Nice Bombs, New Filmmakers, Anthology Film Archive, NYC, September 10, 2008
Nice Bombs,Sundance Channel broadcast on March 19, 2008
Nice Bombs,Theatrical Release: Pioneer Theater, NYC & Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, July, 2007
Nice Bombs, New York Underground Film Festival; Anthology Film Center, March, 2007
World Premiere Nice Bombs , Chicago Underground Film Festival; Music Box Theater, August 17, 2006
Coding:Decoding: Nikolaj, Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center, Copenhagen, 2006
SELECTED SCREENINGS (2000-2005)
Gene Siskel Film Center; VIDEO BABYLON (Iraqi Video Showcase); Chicago; November 20, 2004
The 8th Rencontres internationales Paris/Berlin; 2004
Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival, Switzerland; 2004
Channel 83 festival of media, Florence, Italy 2004
Select Media Festival: Regime Change For US Tour; Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Paris, Chicago 2003
Cinema of Transgression Retrospective; Pioneer Theater; New York, NY; 2003
eKsperim[E]nt3 Film Festival; Manila, Philippines; 2003
Microcinema International; Paris, Mexico City, New York City, San Francisco; 2002
Coney Island Short Film Festival; New York; September 2002
Microcinefest; Baltimore; 2002
Melbourne Underground Film Festival; Australia; July 2002
Featured Director; Chicago Deep Dish Underground; Brighton Cinematheque, England; 2002
Pink Bubble Bath: The Sexy Film Festival; San Francisco, CA; February 2002
Chamber of Pop Culture; Horse Hospital, London, England; December 2001
Featured Director: Light Plays Tricks Short Film Festival; Kingston, Ontario, Canada; October 2001
CAN TV - Channel 19; Chicago, IL; June 2001
Museum of Contemporary Art; Summer Solstice; Chicago, IL; June 2001
Digital Talkies; New Delhi, India; March 2001
Boston Underground Film Festival; Boston, MA; February 2001
Eyeball Music Showcase; Athens, Georgia; October 2000
Euro Underground Film Festival; Krakow, Poland; October 2000
New York Underground Film Festival; New York, NY; March 2000