Mamoun Hassan

Mamoun Hassan (12 December 1937 – 29 July 2022) was a Saudi-born British screenwriter, director, editor, producer and teacher of film who held prominent positions in British cinema during the 1970s and 80s, frequently backing experimental work. He was the first head of production of the British Film Institute (BFI) and later managing director of the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC). Mamoun Hassan was born in Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia on 12 December 1937. He began his career in film working as an editing assistant with Kevin Brownlow. He made his first distributed short film 'The Meeting', in 1965, for which he was awarded a best prize award at the Oberhausen Film Festival. He was the first head of production of the British Film Institute from 1971, in which post he instigated the BFI's policy of backing low-budget feature films that charted in new directions; he assisted the director Bill Douglas by securing crew and funding to make The Bill Douglas Trilogy (1972–78), and financially supported the production of Winstanley (1975). Hassan was the first to support film that was made by Black British filmmakers about their experiences in Britain: Horace Ove's Pressure.