Hisham Haj Omar a.k.a hajooj
filmmaker

"Visual art has always been in my blood. I gradually moved from drawing to painting to photography finally to land on filmmaking. In 2004, life took me from California to Washington DC. There I worked mainly on documentaries. Editing for a living and creating my own work. My documentaries ranged from the creative open-mics of DC to a war zone in Darfur, Sudan. By the end of 2007 I relocated to New York City to sharpen my narrative film skills.

In all my art I try to create an atmosphere of music, dialogue, lighting, settings and objects allowing for characters to emerge, the core of my creation and artistic search.  I try to create a repetitive monotony that resembles the notion of stability and happiness then i insert the beautiful chaos that is life. This breaks the circle of happiness and moves us to a spiral of ancient themes. Through my documentary experience I noticed that everything is personal in the end. And when the character gets personal and self absorbed the camera disappears and an experience is communicated regardless of words or action.

Currently I am working on a narrative, an animation and cooking up a documentary idea.  I want to create work that reads like reality but feels like a daydream. In this journey of creation I want to be part of a team with a mission to create art for the sake of the process and its unique journey."

Hisham is currently Brooklyn based. He comes from Washington DC, California, Lebanon, UAE and before all that Nubia/Sudan. He is currently working at shilo design inc in New York City.