Ali Hossaini

Ali Hossaini (b. 1962 in West Virginia) is an American philosopher, filmmaker and pacifist. His work includes contributions in creative writing, political commentary, avant-garde film, photography and television. Common themes include a commitment to freedom and innovation that breaks disciplinary boundaries.

The son of an Iraqi father and a Slovakian mother [http://www.opendemocracy.net/arts-multiculturalism/article_2126.jsp] , Hossaini came of age during the Reagan Era, when he became a producer for Alternative Views, a television program that offered progressive news, commentary and interviews. [http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/publicaccesstvaltviews.pdf] He also produced short films that were distributed by Deep Dish Television. He went on to write for the "Village Voice" and other publications. [http://www.pantar.com/bio.html] In 1994 he received a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin, then became involved with academic publishing and the Internet. He launched The Surrealist Revolution at the University of Texas Press, a book series whose inaugural volume, Surrealist Woman, revealed the suppressed histories of female artists. He also published one of the first electronic books, "Istanbul Boy", in 1996, [http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/books/nesisw.html] and produced one of the first public webcasts, Come to Me, that same year. [http://www.cyberopera.org/elaine.html]

Hossaini left Texas to join the staff of "The Site", a San Francisco-based television newsmagazine on MSNBC, as a producer and commentator. His focus was on involving audiences in television broadcasts. He moved to ZDTV where he continued to develop interactive projects that integrated audience tools like chat and webcams into television programs. [http://www.infonortics.com/vc/vc01/bios/hossaini-bio.html] As vice president for community at Oxygen Media, he developed applications that anticipated many trends in social networking, including video sharing and managed presence. [http://www.opendemocracy.net/author/Ali_Hossaini.jsp]

As executive producer of LAB HD, Hossaini fostered the creation of several dozen films in avant-garde and experimental genres, including the Voom Portraits Robert Wilson, a project that became well-known after "Vanity Fair" [http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2006/12/wilson200612] featured one of its subjects, actor Brad Pitt, on its cover. [http://broadcastengineering.com/hdtv/hd_still_life_artist_wilson_1227/] The series of HDTV videos feature performances by Hollywood stars, European and Persian royalty and notable artists. [http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/ny-c5073773feb01,0,1704020.story] The Voom Portraits Robert Wilson exhibition opened in 2007 at Paula Cooper Gallery and Philips de Pury Gallery in New York City. [http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/30/arts/design/30wils.html?_r=1&oref=slogin] His productions have also been featured in the Whitney Biennial [http://www.transmag.org/mailer/mailer26/] , the Tribeca Film Festival [http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/tixSYS/2006/filmguide/event_np_summary.php?EventNumber=4181] and other venues.

Hossaini is currently executive producer of Equator HD, a high-definition television channel devoted to travel, culture and natural history. [http://www.c21media.net/resources/detail.asp?article=34080&area=100]

Screenings and Installations

[http://www.movingimage.us/site/site.php American Museum of the Moving Image, Feb - April, 2008]
[http://www.artfifa.com/index.php?option=com_film&task=view&id=1140&Itemid=433&lang=en Montreal Festival of Film on Art, March, 2008]
[https://www.artnet.com/Galleries/Exhibitions.asp?gid=117106&cid=128641 Janos Gat Gallery, December, 2007]
[http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/film/FN16674 Pacific Film Archive, October, 2007]
[http://www.sfcinematheque.org/calendar.shtml?x=482 SF Cinemateque October, 2007]
[http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale07/scanners07/program.html Scanners Film Festival, July, 2007]
[http://orchard47.org/testshow.php?name=The%20Collective Orchard 47 Gallery, April, 2007]
[http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/ Anthology Film Archive, June & November, 2006]

Selected writing

[http://www.realitysandwich.com/blog/alihossaini Don't Kill Your Television!]
[http://www.highdef.com/magazine/archive/HighDef_2007_2MarApr.pdf Merging Art with Television (p 14)]
[http://www.logosjournal.com/hossaini.htm Vision of the Gods]
[http://www.opendemocracy.net/arts-multiculturalism/article_2126.jsp Beyond the Multicultural Ghetto]
[http://www.opendemocracy.net/media-journalismwar/article_1549.jsp The Nasty Truth About the Noble Lie]
[http://www.opendemocracy.net/media-digitaltv/article_19.jsp Stop the downward spiral in digital TV!]
[http://www.third-dimension.com/10base-Tibet/thesite/iview810_082697.html Interview with the Dalai Lama]

Filmography

2006

* "imdb title|id=0835355|title=Epiphany: The Cycle of Life, experimental feature, director: Ali Hossaini
* "Unperception Now, director: Ali Hossaini
* "Video Portrait: Princess Caroline: of Monaco, director: [http://www.robertwilson.com Robert Wilson] , executive producer: * "Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Queen Farah Diba, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Prince Alexis Schleswig-Holstein, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Gao Xingjian, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Rite of the Black Sun, director: Bradley Eros, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* " [http://www.pawelwojtasik.com/Aquarium.html The Aquarium] , director: [http://www.pawelwojtasik.com/ Pavel Wojtasik] , executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "The Landfill, director: Pavel Wojtasik, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin, HDTV
* "Sahara Mohave, director: Leslie Thornton, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "Portrait of Shanghai, director: Lili Chin, HDTV, experimental short
* "Sorry, director: Gail Vachon, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "Meredith Salient Field, director: Theo Angell, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "Spectropia (episode), director: Toni Dove
* "25 Letters (3 episodes), director: Graham Weinbren, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "The Tension Building, director: Erika Beckman, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "The Mythmakers, directors: Sabine Gruffat & Ben Russell, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "Poem, director: Mary Lucier, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin, HDTV
* "Light Mood Disorder, director: Jennifer Reeves, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "The Bridge, director: Fred Taylor, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "Urban Sonata, director: Jud Yalkut, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "Stiff, director: Jenny Reeder, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "Carrara Landscape, director: Angie Eng, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin
* "The Shadow Lords, director: Jose Figeroa, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer: Lili Chin

2005

* "Video Portrait: Isabella Rossellini, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Sean Penn, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Willem Dafoe, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Robin Wright-Penn, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: J T Leroy, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: William Pope L, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Gabriella Orenstein, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Lucinda Childs, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Esther Gordon & Noah Khoshbin

2004

* "imdb title|id=0827764|title=Video Portrait: Brad Pitt, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Robert Downey, Jr., director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Jeanne Moreau, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Isabelle Huppert, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Juliette Binoche, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Marianne Faithfull, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Zhang Huan, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Steve Buscemi, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Noah Khoshbin
* "Video Portrait: Mikhail Baryshnikov, director: Robert Wilson, executive producer: Ali Hossaini, producer Noah Khoshbin

2002

* "artTV, director
* "Abstraction 1, director
* "Abstraction 2, director

1995

* "Come to Me, director

1989:1994
* "Alternative Views weekly newsmagazine, producer

1986
* "Sometimes a Blessing Can Be a Curse, director
* "Ich bin Du, director
* "Pentagram, director