Waleed Bedour

Waleed Bedour was born in 1975 in Cairo to Egyptian parents. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering in 1998. Heavily impacted by the response to Arabs in America following the 9/11 tragedy, Waleed began to think of ways to change the negative perception of Arabs & Muslims in the West - and what better way to do that than by making films. He studied film making for two years at the Academy of Arts and Cinema Technology in Egypt and before graduating he was already working on big Egyptian productions as an assistant director. His thesis film Fael Khair (2008) won several awards in Egyptian film festivals and was screened in other festivals worldwide. In 2008, Waleed moved to New York to pursue his dream of becoming a prominent director in the American film industry. He directed a short film Tick Tock (2009), which won the Merit award in the Los Angeles Cinema film festival and was screened in numerous festivals in the USA. Waleed was lucky to work on several films as first assistant director and line producer. He also worked with Academy award winners and nominees such as Adrien Brody, Robert Loggia, and the late Charles Durning. Over the years, Waleed continued to work in Egypt. He directed many Egyptian TV commercials and music videos and some of his clients included Samsung, McDonald's, and Danone. Waleed is pursuing his MFA in film directing at Feirstein Grad School of Cinema, he will graduate in 2021.