Haya AlGhanim is a filmmaker and artist based between New York City and Kuwait City. Through her creative and professional practice, AlGhanim aims to preserve and represent modern Arab art and culture.

Her work has been exhibited at various international film festivals, exhibition venues, and institutions including the Sharjah Art Foundation, Misk Art Institute, the Arab American National Museum, Lothringer 13 Halle and more. Her short documentary, An Evening with Laila, premiered at the Malmo Arab Film Festival, won Best International Documentary at the Alexandria Short Film Festival and is distributed by MAD Solutions. Her most recent narrative short film, Somewhere Else, supported by Netflix and the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC), premiered at the Red Sea International Film Festival. She is currently in development on her first narrative feature film, Road 250, a selection of the Royal Film Commission - Jordan’s Rawi Screenwriters Lab and Red Sea Feature Film Lab in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab (formerly Red Sea Lodge).

AlGhanim also produces digital content and marketing campaigns for new media platforms. Her commercial and marketing experience includes stints at Us Weekly, Film at Lincoln Center, MATTE Projects, Watermelon Pictures, and the Brooklyn Film Festival. She is currently on the marketing teams of leading film distributor, Kino Lorber, and Visibility Films, an artist-led distribution company founded by Emmy®-nominated filmmaker Cherien Dabis. She has played a key role on the North American releases and marketing campaigns of over 50 films, including the Oscar®-nominated titles, Four Daughters, Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat, and Mr. Nobody Against Putin, and shortlisted hopefuls From Ground Zero and All That’s Left of You.

She has served on the programming committees of the Arab Film and Media Institute and the Gotham Film & Media Institute (previously IFP), and juries of the Brooklyn Film Festival and Arab Film and Media Institute’s Arab Film Festival.

Haya AlGhanim received her MFA in Film from Columbia University, where she was a Teaching Fellow for the undergraduate Film Studies program. She holds a BA from The New School, where she was also a Teaching Assistant for courses in 16mm filmmaking and digital video production.