Born in Iraq to Palestinian Parents, Ahmad Habash grew up in diaspora, during childhood and teenage years he traveled from one country to another, with or without his family. In spite of his parent's professions in politics and Medicine, they both had their artistic side in their life and as devoted amateur artists, Ahmad grew up surrounded by painters, movie directors and poets. Art and appreciating it was the sweet mist in the air he sprouted into. The experiences he was exposed to ranged from painting to community theatre. Colors and body movements were stressed as eloquent modes of expressing emotions and thoughts. Ahmad's love story with films and animation began with this perfect backdrop.

 

When Ahmad was nine, he played beside his brothers and sister in many stage-plays made by his family, when they discovered Ahmad's abilities to act and especially to imitate other characters. At the same period, Ahmad's infatuation with cartoon-watching went beyond being an enchanted audience to creating his own characters and scenarios. His parents noticed and encouraged his illustration abilities, although, a couple of times, he got in trouble at school for creating comic strips about the unbearable headmaster.

 

As his drawing skills were developing, Ahmad acquired a reputation for caricaturing people and drawing comics. Then, at the age of 12, he was introduced to his first animation software. Ahmad devoured the manual from end to end and never stopped animating that summer. The ability to add motion to his illustrations giving them a magical life of their own was captivating. He knew then: an animator is what he wanted to be.

 

In 1993 with a growing ambition, Ahmad went to Egypt to study film and video directing in the High Institute of Cinema and Television, and despite his scholarship restrictions, which prevented him from joining the animation program at the Institute; he sat through most of the animation courses even when he didn't receive credit for them. He also continued to satisfy his passion for animation by staying up-to-date on animation books and software and by reflecting on how his film directing skills could apply to animation. Ahmad obtained his BA in film directing at 1997. After graduation, Habash worked in the independent film industry and in a variety of advertising and artistic productions, documentaries and features. This professional experience helped him realize his own aesthetic vision to produce pieces with artistic values and profound contents.

 

In May 2000, Ahmad directorial debut (The Moon Sinking) was a novel cinematic presentation of the modern Palestinian persona done through alienating experiences with meditative vision; the movie received wide audiences' appreciation through its screening in many festivals all over the world. In January 2003, Ahmad took his major step to switch his career to animation, fulfilling his childhood dream, he fully produced, animated and directed his first professional black-comedy animation (Coming Back). Which got a political and humorous point of view about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the movie was also screened in many festivals, it received the special mention Jury prize at the Biennial Cinema per la Pace in Pisa, Italy in 2005.

 

In 2006, Ahmad directed and animated "Flee", a short Sand animation as part of the Palestinian filmmaker collective's project "Palestine, Summer 2006". "Flee" reflected a new turn in his artistic orientations and was screened in many prestigious festivals all over the world. In September 2006, he was awarded a full scholarship from Said Foundation to obtain a Master degree in the United Kingdom, and In September 2007, Ahmad graduated from Bournemouth University with a Master in Computer Animation.

 

During 2008 and 2009, Ahmad directed and animated "Fatenah". The film tells the story of a young woman from Gaza in her daily survival struggles. a moving journey to the heart of the Gaza Strip. Based on a true story, the film was funded by the World Health Organization and was screened in many film festivals and had won the Noor Award for best short fiction from the 13th Annual Arab Film Festival in USA and the Jury Special Mention ward from Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2009.

 

Ahmad Habash lives in Wellington, New Zealand. He works as editor, animator and visual effects artist in various film and animation productions.



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