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Usama Alshaibi - Curriculum Vitae
Usama Alshaibi… demon engineer, who like an alchemist transmuted my slovenly, drossy tapes into gold.
-Studs Terkel, Will the Circle Be Unbroken? page xiii
EDUCATION
- BFA; Columbia College; Chicago, Illinois; Major: Film and Video; June 1997
- Attended The University of Iowa; Iowa City, Iowa; Major: Fine Art; 1989 to1991
WORK EXPERIENCE
- Adjunct Professor, Columbia College Chicago, Film/ Video Department,
Fall 2006 to present.
- Audio & Film Technical Archivist; Chicago History Museum; Chicago, Illinois; projects include: National Gallery of the Spoken Word, working closely with historian Studs Terkel; selected clients include: WTTW Chicago, BBC Radio, WBEZ Chicago, The History Channel, The Weather Underground (Academy Award nominee; Sam Green & Bill Siegel productions); November 1999 to March 2007.
- Freelance Producer, Director, Videographer & Editor; selected clients include: Mexican Fine Arts Museum, Art Institute of Chicago, Indo American Center, Newberry Library, Drag City, Skin Graft Records, Thrill Jockey Records; March 2000 to present
CURATORIAL EXPERIENCE
- Juror; Community Arts Assistance Program (CAAP); Chicago; Illinois; 2005
- Program Director; The Z Film Festival; Chicago, Illinois; December 2000 to present
- 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
- Co-Director; Undershorts Film Festival; The Music Box Theatre; Chicago, Illinois; February 1999
SELECTED AWARDS/HONORS
- 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 Department of Cultural Affairs; Community Arts Assistance Programs Grant; 2004
- Chicago Underground Film Fund Grant; 2003
- Kudzu Eyeball Music Video Showcase award; 2000
DVD/CD RELEASES
- ‘Dance Habibi Dance’ Movieside Film Festival, 20 Award Winning Short FIlms,DVD, 2006
- "Allahu Akbar" RESISTANCE[S]: Experimental films from the Middle East and North Africa, DVD (lowave) 2006
- "Home Sweet Home" Bobby Conn: Live Classics, Vol. 1 Enhanced CD (Thrill Jockey) 2005
- "Hold My Scissors" Magic is Küntmaster ‘Virgin Ghost’ Enhanced CD (Milkpal Records) 2005
- ‘Venereal Video’ Shorts Compilation, DVD-R (Artvamp LLC) 2005
- "Convulsion Expulsion" Panicsville ‘Perverse’, Enhanced CD (LDR-HPR) 2003
- "Stabbed in the Face" Panicsville ‘Sterile’ Enhanced CD (nihilist) 2003
- ‘Muhammad and Jane +3 shorts’ DVD-R (Artvamp, LLC) 2003
- "Soak" DVD-R (Artvamp LLC) 2002
SELECTED PRESS/CATALOGS/ARTICLES
- 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
- Time Out Chicago, ‘Bringing the war home,’ 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’ by Anthony Kaufman, Indiewire, November 2004
- The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Gene Siskel Film Center Gazette, "Visions From the Arab World: Video Babylon’, written by Barbara Scharres, November 2004
- ‘On Film: from the Web to the screen, two fests in one,’ Chicago Reader, by Lee Gerstein, December 2000
GUEST SPEAKER/ MEDIA APEARANCE
- 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
- 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, rebroadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio, Tuesday, July 12th, 2005
- Two part interview with Steve Edwards on Eight Forty-Eight, Chicago Public Radio, December 17, 2004
- 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
- "Metropolis"; Arte (French-German Television magazine); October 16 2004; producer Nico Weber
- Guest lecturer, Art Media Studies and Computer Art; Syracuse University; Syarcuse, NY; professor Heath Hanlin; September 21, 2004
- Guest speaker, Documentary Department; Columbia College Film Department; Chicago, IL; Instructor Lem Huntington; July, 2004
SELECTED SCREENINGS
- World Premiere
- Nice Bombs , Chicago Underground Film Festival; sponored by the Playboy foundation; Music Box Theater, August 17, 2006
- 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; February 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
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS/ PRINT
- "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," new work on sex & violence; group show; 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)