Biography
Hakim El-Hachoumi was born in Marrakech (Morocco), where he first studied mathematics after leaving school. He then studied directing in Paris (France) and St. Petersburg (Russia). After graduating, he took part in various theatre productions in Morocco, Paris and his adopted hometown of Berlin. In 2004, he founded the association Freunde der arabischen Kinemathek (Friends of the Arab Cinematheque) in Berlin. In 2009, he was one of the founders and then programme director of AlFilm - Festival of Arab Film Berlin, which takes place annually. El-Hachoumi has also curated other film series and festivals over the years, such as the Creole Film Music Festival at the Werkstatt der Kulturen in Berlin in 2016. He has also given film workshops in various countries and teaches as a lecturer at the Free University of Berlin.
For television, Hakim El-Hachoumi realised the medium-length documentary "Männer der Wüste: Mit Kamelhirten durch die Sahara" (together with Lars Barthel and Andreas Voigt) in 2019. In the same year, he began work on the feature documentary "Fatima – Ein kurzes Leben" ("The Invisible Girl"), which reflects on the social conditions and contrasts in Morocco based on the murder case of a 14-year-old servant girl. The film was released in German cinemas in June 2021.