Usama Alshaibi

Anxiety Art (2021)

A young artist in a dark dorm room takes anxieties out of their brain and into their hands. ...

The Desire (2020)

A devotion to beauty, aching and isolation. ...

CINEMA-19 (2020)

A collection of 190-second short films created in response to COVID-19, commissioned by filmmakers Usama Alshaibi and Adam Sekuler. ...

Filmmakers Unite (FU) (2017)

The Evil and the Good Fairy (2016)

"This was made with my daughter Muneera. She wrote it and stars in it. Using black and white reversal super-8mm film. ...

Baghdad, Iowa (2016)

Baghdad, Iowa is the mask, the shadow and the night stars that sing the sorrow song of death. You might be dreaming, so don't wake up until you arrive. ...

American Arab (2013)

Iraqi-American filmmaker Usama Alshaibi shares his own story of experiencing racism in post-9/11 America. Showcasing the diversity of Arabs living in the United States, "American Arab" sparks a frank conversation about identity and perception, and argues f ...

Profane (2011)

A young Muslim Dominatrix in the midst of a spiritual crisis. ...

Solar Anus Cinema (2010)

Nine short experimental films of transgressive cinema. ...

My Fourth Painting (2010)

Chicago 2010 ...

My Third Painting (2009)

Here's the literal definition of "art cinema": Usama Alshaibi's short piece 'My Third Painting,' which plays like a cross between Jackson Pollock, traditional glass plane animation, and a phone call from your drug dealer. ...

My Mother Paused By My Father (2009)

Experimental short made from a family recording. ...

My Second Painting (2008)

Chicago, May 2008 ...

Gash (2008)

An experimental film focusing on the writhing form of Katinka. ...

Looking at Clouds (2008)

Chicago, 2008. ...

Organ Molly (2008)

Usama Alshaibi-directed short film. ...

Patient (2008)

A bandaged woman writhes naked on a bed. ...

Runaway (2008)

Usama Alshaibi-directed short film. ...

Spoiled (2008)

Usama Alshaibi-directed short film. ...

Dream of Samarra (2007)

Super 8 video shot by Alshaibi's brother in Samarra. ...

Signal Cross Over (2007)

"Signal Cross Over is about assisted love suicide and the noisy transition into the afterlife. He is dead and, with his guidance, she will join him via a ritualized live cremation process. Shot on an old studio tube camera from 1983, all effects were done ...

Baba Boom Boom (2007)

Alshaibi's father playing Iraqi folk music. ...

Nice Bombs (2006)

In Nice Bombs filmmaker Usama Alshaibi returns to Baghdad to reunite with his family after nearly 24 years. This documentary navigates through his unique relationship to an Iraq that is much different than the country of his childhood. ...

Qawliya Dance (2006)

Experimental short about the Qawliya gypsies in Iraq. ...

Eid Sacrifice (2006)

Traditional slaughter of an animal for Islamic holiday Eid. ...

Traumata (2005)

A short film by Usama Alshaibi ...

Bombshell: Iraqi Secret Videos and Artifacts from a Fallen Regime (2004)

This video is compiled from several appropriated clips from VCD's(Video Compact Discs) that are sold in Baghdad.Iraqi-American filmmaker Usama Alshaibi...makes some striking juxtapositions with his work "Bombshell: Iraqi Secret Videos and Artifacts from a ...

Hold My Scissors (2004)

"Hold My Scissors from Chicago's most prolific underground filmmaker, Usama Alshaibi, combines images of blood, cannibalism, witches, and demons, shot with a frenetic urgency that functions to heighten the dreamlike soundtrack. ...

Convulsion Expulsion (2004)

An adventure in pornographic surrealism. ...

Self-Contained (2004)

A woman lying on a hardwood floor covered in plastic wrap. ...

The Amateurs (2003)

What is preventing these people from completing video penetration? ...

Muhammad and Jane (2003)

Muhammad Zeromski, raised in Iraq and Poland, returns to the U.S. after being away for almost a year. The climate he enters is ominous and confused. He meets a woman who calls herself Jane Doe. They share a common fear and are drawn to one another through ...

Allahu Akbar (2003)

Rhythm and repetition plays an important role in the animated film Allahu Akbar by Usama Alshaibi. With this film, Alshaibi questions the confrontation between tradition and modernity by drawing inspiration from geometric motives of Islamic art. The artist ...

Soak (2002)

Formally, an intriguing depiction of video as forward motion, or as technology of road movies and dreams. Alshaibi intercuts footage of a Southeastern Asian trip with a young man's venereal disease-influenced fantasies of a strange young woman. ...

Slaughtered Pigtails (2001)

A woman is chased across a field by an unseen assailant. ...

Ass (2001)

Ass is a vivisection that attacks the optic nerves and creates a conflict within the body. ...

Crying (2000)

Close-up of a woman crying. ...

Muffin (2000)

An eerily stylized deconstruction of exploitation and violence in life and cinema. ...

Death Jerk-Off 2000 (2000)

A cut up exploration in film-kink and video-noise fetish for the children of the millennium. ...

Dance Habibi Dance (1999)

Mythological creatures parade and swim in an acid Greek mythos. A broadcast from beyond, with lurid flesh and Arabesque disco. ...

The Speech By the Sweet Young Beeper (1998)

Zeek Sheck Rules The Cloud People (But Not For Long) - Speech Joe ...

The Apocalyptic Is the Mother of All Christian Theology (2023)

A psychedelic portrait of the founding theorist of Christianity, Paul the Apostle. His life, ideology and influence are reconstructed by piecing together 16mm footage, cassettes, animation, and Catholic liturgical music. ...

Muhammad and Jane (2003)

Muhammad Zeromski, raised in Iraq and Poland, returns to the U.S. after being away for almost a year. The climate he enters is ominous and confused. He meets a woman who calls herself Jane Doe. They share a common fear and are drawn to one another through ...