Mohanad Hayal has worked in cinema since 2006 as a director, writer and producer. His debut feature Haifa Street (2019) won the New Currents Award at Busan and Best Arab Film at Cairo; his films have screened at Berlin, Busan, Gothenburg, Cairo and Carthage, earning seven international and Arab awards.
He directed the series New Baghdad and produced The Red Zone, and was script editor and production consultant on those and on The Deep State. He co-produced Exam and the documentary Iraq’s Invisible Beauty. He co-founded Sumerian Dream Productions and later left the company.
He served as Head of Film Production at Iraq’s Department of Cinema and Theatre and as a cinema advisor to the Ministry of Culture, ran two editions of Iraq’s first independent film grant, and laid the foundations of the Iraqi film centre that supports independent production. He has served as Iraq’s official submitter to the Academy Awards, and produced Baghdad Messi on behalf of the Ministry of Culture.
He founded Wujooh in Baghdad for the development and production of feature film and television drama.