Shady El-Hamus is an internationally acclaimed Dutch-Egyptian director and screenwriter whose debut feature film, De Libi (2019), won a Dutch Academy Award (Golden Calf) for Best Screenplay. Exploring the bittersweet transition between adolescence and adulthood, the film follows three friends whose bond is tested by life's changes - but ultimately remains strong.
Shady El-Hamus
He helmed and co-wrote the first Dutch Netflix Original Film, Forever Rich (2021), and has been met with tremendous acclaim, including a New York Times article listing the film as ‘one of the top five must-watch movies of the moment’. He has since moved on to co-write and direct his second feature for Netflix Crypto Boy (2023) and currently, Shady is working on his theater debut for Orkater, De Dood van Benny Simons. Just like in his films, this production features a young man with grand dreams, played by Daniël Kolf, who suddenly finds his world shaken. The play will hit theaters in 2025.
El-Hamus made history when he became the first student in the Netherlands Film Academy's history to simultaneously graduate in both directing and writing. Upon graduating, El-Hamus was accepted into the prestigious MA Directing Fiction Course at the National Film and Television School in the United Kingdom. His graduation film Fairuz (2015), which featured renowned Palestinian actor Mohammad Bakri, made its debut in the Main Competition at the Dubai International Film Festival.
He wrote Sam de Jong’s award-winning graduation film Magnesium, for which he was awarded the Dioraphte Award for Most Outstanding Graduation Student of the Year and the film was selected for Sundance Film Festival amongst others. He then directed his own film Over Zonen (2012), starring Aladdin’s Marwan Kenzari in the lead role. His most recent short film Nightshade (2017) was the Dutch submission for the Academy Awards and was chosen for the competitive lineup at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the largest international film festival devoted to short films.
Volkskrant named him one of the three top directing talents of 2018.
