Few Minutes with Hakim, Video, 5 minutes, 2021

Twenty eight years old Hakim Sulaimani is a Brooklyn based Yemeni cafe owner. Born in Yemen and immigrated in 1995 to New York with his family as a result of the civil war in Yemen in 1993. Growing up, Hakim would spend summers working on their father’s Brooklyn deli shops. The deli 'Yafa' is named after the family's hometown in the South of Yemen. Yafa Deli was opened in 1995 and continues to be running until today’s date. Twenty years later, Hakim remains in the same neighborhood, more engaged with their community than ever. This time through Yafa Cafe; serving the iconic Yemeni coffee; ethically-sourced from Yemen. 

Few Minutes With is a doc series developed by Ibi Ibrahim. Hakim is the premier piece of this ongoing project. The series looks into the lives of Yemeni American individuals, offering a space for reflection and understanding of the Yemeni American immigrant experience. The first piece Few Minutes with Hakim was made over the course of ten months. It is part of the collection of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan and is currently on display at the museum. 

Arrival, video, 06:30 minutes, 2019

In Arrival, four Yemeni women living in the diaspora are asked: what does it mean to come home? Those women were outside of Yemen when the war erupted. Five years later, they remain unable to return; each for her own reason. The footage of a drive through Sana’a in a busy afternoon was made in winter 2018 by the artist himself who at the time has managed to return home after four years of being away.

Departure, video, 09:00 minutes, 2017

A short film that recounts the struggle of Yemenis stranded and displaced outside of Yemen as a result of the ongoing war. 

'Departure' is a collaborative work between Ibi Ibrahim and Hosam Omran. 

Letters to Fairuz, video, 07:00 minutes, 2016


Guided by the melody of Fairuz in Beirut through his six weeks stay at Beirut Art Residency in winter 2016, Ibi Ibrahim developed a video project that conveys the very personal relationship between Lady Fairuz and Beirut. The seven minutes long video consists of a number of letters written by Fairuz's fans in both English and Arabic. 

Letters to Fairuz is a collaborative work between Ibi Ibrahim and Jean-Claude Boulos.