Zaid Abu Hamdan

Biography: Born and raised in Amman, Jordan, Zaid Abu Hamdan holds an MFA from the New York Film Academy in Hollywood California and a BA in Communication Arts from the Lebanese American University in Beirut. Abu Hamdan has written and produced for a wide range of television shows internationally, including E! Entertainment’s coverage of the Golden Globe and Sesame Street. Additionally, Zaid worked as a television reporter for the Middle East Broadcast Corporation Group (MBC Group) in Hollywood. In 2009, he established his own company, Zaha Productions, in which he wrote, directed, and produced six award winning short films with the cooperation of Los Angeles and Gulf based production houses. Abu Hamdan’s debut film Baram & Hamza won international awards and was distributed in the US and Europe. His other films include the two-part series Love… Older and Bahiya & Mahmoud, which was an official Jordanian submission to the Academy Awards and won the Best Film Award at the Palm Springs International ShortFest in 2011.