Abdullah Boushahri

Abdullah Boushahri is a well-known Kuwaiti filmmaker. He is a visual artist and entrepreneur

 who first rose with his first film Kuwaiti Champion which was critically acclaimed as the first Kuwaiti film made in the cinema verite genre. After Abdullah Boushahri attained a Bachelor’s degree in film from Florida Atlantic University, he made his first feature documentary debut Losing Ahmed and premiered at Dubai Film Festival in 2006. Abdullah Boushahri won ‘Best Documentary in the Gulf’ in the year 2007. He also toured more than 30 international film festivals around the world.

In the year 2001, Abdullah Boushahri founded “Beyond Dreams Productions,” then expanded it to Kuwait in the year 2006. The company’s aim was to produce unique films made with an artistic values and a global appeal. In the year 2007, Abdullah and his partners established SYNQ Studios, a Miami based post-production hub. SYNQ Studies, is specialized in animation and visual effects. In addition, it is organized around an exceptional team of technical and digital artists, who bring years of industry experience and credits in several Hollywood films. Some Hollywood films are: “Star Wars,” “300,” “The Mist,” “Underworld Evolution,” “Harry Potter,” “Planet of the Apes,” “The Mummy,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Ice Age,” and many other films and creative projects around the world.

Abdullah’s unconventional business model earned him an accolade as the British Council Entrepreneurs Award of 2009. Abdullah teamed up with MBC in the same year, and produced “The Circle” – MBC’s first ever fiction film. He was later commissioned to produce film and media content for Burj Khalifa and the opening Film for Gulf Film Festival in Dubai. Abdullah directed and produced his short film “Heaven’s Water” in 2010, which was shot completely in Kuwait. Late on, Abdullah produced “The Waves Will Carry Us” as a part of a master class in Dubai with the international renowned Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. In the year 2011, Abdullah Boushahri was the first filmmaker to serve on the jury of the Dubai International Film Festival.

 In the year 2013, Abdullah Boushahri and the Oscar nominee producer Donald Ranvaud co-produced the Italian film “It’s About to Rain”; shot completely in Florence and released at the Italian cinemas. Abdullah continued to develop and produce films regionally and internationally that are both artistically meaningful and commercially viable.

In the year 2014, Abdullah Boushahri joined the Ministry of State for Youth Affairs as Director of the Creative Production Department to help develop and support the creative community in Kuwait. Boushahri won his last award in December 2014. In a glittering ceremony, Emily Blunt presented the IWC (International Watch Company) Filmmakers Award to Abdullah Boushahri for “The Water”. The award was about US$100,000 to help move projects from page to screen. Abdullah Boushahri has been a part of the film industry since 2001 and shall continue to go forth with his creations.