Ziad Hamzeh
Ziad H Hamzeh (born 22 January 1959) is an American film director. He directed The Letter: An American Town and the 'Somali Invasion', Shadow Glories, Woman, Henry O!, Bleacher Boys, Eternal Embrace, and Sisters.
Hamzeh was born at Jabal ad-Duruz in Syria. He immigrated to the United States in 1979. After completing his studies, Hamzeh created two theatre companies in Los Angeles. As the artistic director of the Open Fist theatre company, he established a haven for artists.
His films and stage works have garnered many international awards. He received more than forty festival accolades, including the medal of honor from the Damascus International Film Festival. In 2008 he won the Golden Palm for his film Woman at the Beverly Hills Film Festival. Most of his work focuses on social issues, women's rights, justice and human integrity. The majority of his leading characters on both stage and film are female.
stage work
In Los Angeles, Mr Hamzeh created two theatres: The Open Fist Theatre and The Egyptian Arena. Hamzeh brought to the LA theatre community many prestigious international names such as Arrabel, Artue, Beckett, Brecht, Churchill, Gretzky, and Lorca. He directed and or produced over sixty major award winning stage productions, among them Roxy Ventola’s After The Bomb, Brecht’s Baal, Sam Shephard’s True West, Arrabel’s Car Cemetery, Hamlet, Fassbinder’s The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carre, Nicholas Kazan’s Blood Moon, Poor [...], The Architect and Empress of Assyria, Cinders, Low Level Panic, and Dusa, Fish, Stas, and Vi.