Karim Kassem was born and raised in Beirut, and works between New York and Lebanon. His artistic exploration first began in music, spinning techno for four years until his interest in photography was awakened by a college professor who invited him on a trip to Indonesia. Since moving to New York he has completed three features: Only the Winds (2020); Octopus (2021), inspired by his personal experience of the Beirut explosion of 2020 and which won best film at IDFA 2021; and Thiiird (2022), which won best film at Beldocs 2023. His fourth feature, Moondove, is in development.