Hisham Zaman is an award-winning director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his films exploring themes related to migration, identity, and belonging. Born in Kirkuk, he arrived in Norway at the age of 17 and graduated from the Norwegian Film School in 2004. Zaman had his international breakthrough with the award-winning short film BAWKE (2005), which screened at Sundance and over 100 other festivals around the world. It was named the best Norwegian short film of the decade by Rushprint magazine in 2010.
Zaman also directed the features BEFORE SNOWFALL (2013) and LETTER TO THE KING (2014), which both won the Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film at the Göteborg Film Festival, making him the only director in history to win the award two years in a row. His third feature, A HAPPY DAY (2023), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was one of three films shortlisted to be Norway’s Oscar candidate.
