Bash
Bash Haddad, in his own words:
“My name is Basheer Nouhad Tawfik Haddad and I like people to call me Bash. I have one sister and five half-brothers and sisters. After my parents got divorced in 1985, my mum, Majda, moved with me and my sister to Cyprus. We moved from Cyprus to Saudi Arabia and from Saudi Arabia to France until finally we end up in the “City Of No Sleep;” Cairo, Egypt, with my step-father Mahmoud.
I was bored and unmotivated in grade school, but I found a haven in watching movies and working in sales and marketing. My interest soon blossomed into a full-time career which parelleled my high school studies. I started with selling life insurance in 1998, I was very intrested in building my communication skills and at the same time earning money without asking family for help.
In 2003 my stepfather passed away and my house went into a very high deppresion, but we all finally accepted that death is part of our journey. My struggle really started because men in the Middle East are the only support to the family, although nowadays that is less common. I left my university and my mum started her own embroidery business from home. We use to make a decent amount of money but it was never enough. We always needed more and more and I felt so embarassed to not be able to full fill my family’s needs.
I decided that I needed to make a quick money but not from drugs, weapons or prositution, and so I found modeling. My first fashion show was in 2004 for hair ad. I made $500. The only problem I was facing in modeling was non-consistant monthly income. No stability is really hard when you have family to support. I found another option– a job as a Latin dance instructor. I started with Arthur Murray Lebanon. We use to teach salsa, cha-cha, Tango and marenguie. Dancing and music is the only language your soul could translate. But I wasn’t very happy because I was always thinking– what is next? What am i going to do? Am I going to be a dancer for the rest of my life?
Then, I met a very interesting guy called Khaled Usif, a famous director in the Middle East, and he accepted me to work with him on his feature movie (OUIJA). It was a crazy experience because I have merged all my expereinces in one– commuication, music, art and creativity, and I decided thats what I want to do for the rest of my life. Since then, I’ve worked on several short films as an Assistant Director, and written a few feature length scripts as well. I know now that I want to pursue the rest of my career in media.
Bash… ”
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Ciao Bash,
cercando il tuo nome ho scoperto questo scrigno pieno di perle preziose. So che non capisci l’italiano, ma io ho adesso capito finalmente che persona sei: una grande e bella persona ho avuto onore,fortuna e piacere di conoscere ma della quale solo ora ne capisco il valore.Chissà se mai ti vedrò in Italia come più volte pensato per i tuoi lavori. Ma ringrazio Dio per averti conosciuto- Franco al “delta”
Hi, I happened to catch one of the episodes lastnight and found it very interesting. you guys are amazing, the things you guys portray about the middle east is exactly what this society in the U.S needs to visualize. Thank you guys and good luck, cant wait to watch the rest of the seasons shows….
one word: A W E S O M E!
i expressed my admiration in advance, but now reading the whole story , seeing the complete pic..i can not but to say wOW! ya have got a great head over ur shoulder , Bash
and god will always watch over ya and guide ya thru, to the direction toward ur dreams, not for anything but coz who u are ! a beautiful human being. Karma will take care of ya. for all wut ya did earlier in ur life to ur family. i admire and respect u tremendously.
may all ur dreams come true and my u have bright future as the brightness if ur smile :)
keep going bash more success , god bless you