Al-Bader Ben Yahya al-Hirsi, commonly known as Bader Ben Hirsi, ( ar, بدر بن هرسي, born 1968) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

playwright and director of

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

i ancestry.

Early life and education

Hirsi's father, Yahya al-Hirsi al-Ban, was from the city of

Lahij Lahij or Lahej ( ar, لحج, Laḥj, links=no), also called al-Hawtah, is a city and an area located between Ta'izz and Aden in Yemen. From the 18th to the 20th century, its rulers were of the Abdali branch of the Al-Sallami tribe who trace th ...

. Al-Ban moved from Yemen to Britain in the 1960s, and it was in that country that Bader Ben Hirsi was born and raised, along with six brothers and seven sisters. Hirsi received a degree in business from the

University of Buckingham , mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings , established = 1973; as university college1983; as university , type = Private , endowment = , administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support , chanc ...

, and worked in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

as an

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

for several years. However, he decided to move into drama, and received a degree in drama production from

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...

, part of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. Three of his plays, ''A Boring Affair'', ''Claptrap'', and ''On the Side of the Angels'', were performed at the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. One of his sisters married Prince Muhammad al-Badr as his third wife.

Professional career

In 1995, Hirsi visited Yemen for the first time, and in 1996, he married a native Yemeni woman. In 1998 he had his first daughter, Thea and two years later another daughter, Lana, then a son, Xane in 2004. In 2000, Hirsi released the documentary '' The English Sheikh and the Yemeni Gentleman'', which he directed and produced with the help of British expatriate Tim Mackintosh-Smith. In 2005, he released ''

A New Day in Old Sana'a ''A New Day in Old Sana'a'' is a 2005 romantic drama film directed by Bader Ben Hirsi, a United Kingdom, British playwright and director of Yemeni ancestry, and produced by Ahmed Abdali. It was shot in San‘a’, the capital of Yemen, and was th ...

'' (a romantic drama shot in San‘a’, the capital), which became the first feature-length film to be shot in Yemen and the first Yemeni film to be shown at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. Hirsi himself had a cameo as a

djinni Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources) – are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic myt ...

at the end of the film. After the film won the award for best

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

film at the

Cairo International Film Festival The Cairo International Film Festival ( ar, مهرجان القاهرة السينمائي الدولي) is an annual internationally accredited film festival held in Cairo Opera House. It was established in 1976 and has taken place every year si ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) *Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

presented him with an award of £E100,000 for "his role in promoting Arabic films."

References

External links

Profile
of Hirsi at New York Times Movies * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsi, Bader Ben Living people 1968 births Alumni of the University of Buckingham Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London British film directors Yemeni film directors English people of Yemeni descent Yemeni writers