Usama Alshaibi was born in Baghdad, Iraq and spent his formative years living between the United States and the Middle East. He’s an active filmmaker and artist, who works in documentary and fiction, often blurring the line between the two. His films have screened widely at underground and international film festivals, media exhibitions and museums. He’s received grants from organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation, the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, the Playboy Foundation, and the Creative Capital Foundation for the Arts.

His first feature documentary, Nice Bombs, which was shot in Baghdad right after the start of the United States invasion of Iraq, had a theatrical release in Chicago and New York, and a broadcast premiere on the Sundance Channel. His second documentary feature, American Arab, had its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), and was nationally broadcast on television through PBS World Channel. He was commissioned by Detroit Public Television to direct and produce two segments for the award-winning series Arab-American Stories, which aired nationally on public television stations.

Alshaibi was awarded the Excellence in Undergraduate Mentorship and the Provost Office Teaching Award at Colorado State University. He created the film production course, The Personal Lens - Making Media, along with the Through the Student Lens Film Festival for which he serves as Program Director.

He is currently finishing his next experimental feature film, This Has Already Happened.