Josef Fares (born 19 September 1977) is a Swedish-Lebanese film director and video game designer of Assyrian descent.

Josef Fares moved to Sweden when he was 10 years old, fleeing the Lebanese Civil War with his family.

He then formed his development company named Hazelight Studios, and partnered with publisher Electronic Arts for his next video game, A Way Out, which was released 23 March 2018.

[6] On 7 December 2017 Josef appeared on The Game Awards 2017 and gave a "passionate" speech while on stage with host Geoff Keighley, where he covered many topics including EA's microtransaction controversy with Star Wars Battlefront II, and his game A Way Out; he also spent time to heavily criticize the Oscars due to their dispassionate take on video games, in what became known as his "fuck the Oscars" speech.

[7] Because of his speech, he has received international praise among fans and his speech has created a new Internet meme involving mass vandalism of relevant Wikipedia pages, usually to reference the 2003 movie The Room, as many people compared him to the movie's director, Tommy Wiseau.