- Born
- Nicknames
- DPLife
- DP
- Height6′ (1.83 m)
- Hatim (Tim) Hassanali is a Mombasa and Toronto- based entrepreneur, award-winning creative, and the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Lead Creative Director of Mara Moja Productions - a next-generation, full-service advertising, film production, and consulting agency built to serve the future of storytelling and strategic brand transformation.
With over fourteen years of global industry experience, Tim has led creative and strategic projects across more than 100 regions, partnering with global production houses, advertising agencies, NGOs, record labels, and multinational corporations. His bold creative vision and entrepreneurial leadership have driven long-term collaborations with SMEs and Fortune 500 companies alike, spanning Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe.
Headquartered in Mombasa with regional operations hubs in Toronto, London and 12 other cities, Mara Moja Productions operates under the belief that brands aren't just built - they are transformed. The agency's ethos, "Some build brands. We build belief," reflects Tim's conviction that great creative work doesn't just communicate; it converts audiences into advocates and moments into movements.
Tim's leadership style is fueled by an infectious creative energy that fosters innovation, challenges norms, and cultivates high-performing teams. He remains deeply embedded in the agency's day-to-day creative direction - from immersive brand strategy and concept development through to production and launch - guiding cross-functional teams across disciplines and time zones toward outcomes that are as commercially impactful as they are creatively uncompromising.
- IMDb mini biography by: Alexander Rassmussen
- Gender / Gender identityMale
- Hatim's unique use of motion and lighting with his cinematography.
- Tim's all time favourite cinematographers include Gordon Willis, Emmanuel Lubezki, Roger Deakins, Dean Semler, Rodrigo Prieto, Jeff Cronenweth and Bobby Bukowski.
- Tim is also an internationally recognized music producer, songwriter and DJ, having played various shows worldwide with several hit radio and chart singles to his name.
- Beside film and cinema, Tim enjoys shooting cinéma vérité/run and gun style documentaries.
- Tim's expertise ranges from analog (film) to digital.. even though he prefers digital, he'll shoot on just about anything.
- Tim's all time favourite directors include Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Spielberg, Yash Chopra and more.
- I'm just reflecting on my life. I'm gonna be dead in like 50-60 years, got so much more life to live, so much more to learn, so much more to do but for some funny reason I feel like I've done it all, experienced it all, felt it all, but theres a long way to go, learning and experiencing is forever. To the 16-17 year old kids asking themselves when's life gonna get better? When you're ready. I was once there. Probably worse off. Life can get really good. You don't need religion or your parents or anyone telling you how to live. Work towards greatness and stay committed, challenge the quo and strive to achieve the impossible.. It's fun. Strive to be creative, don't take the easy way out. Don't go for the look, sound or feel that your favourite creator developed, develop your own. Innovate, create, inspire, motivate, change, alter, feel.. and never forget to ask yourself the following questions on a daily basis, "What am I doing?, how am I adding value to peoples lives?, how am I giving back to the world?, how will I step away from average and normal?", because at the end of the day you want to be known as yourself and not the man who imitated Steven Spielberg.
And never forget to strive to achieve the impossible.. It's fun. - Its the attention to detail that separates successes and failures.
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