6 Saudi filmmakers making waves on the international film festival circuit

6 Saudi filmmakers making waves on the international film festival circuit

These Saudi directors are making a name for themselves on the international film festival circuit.

  1. Hana Alfasi
    Hana Alfasi
    Alfasi is currently working on her short film “When the Shelves Hymn” with Film AlUla. She is an alumna of the Rawi Screenwriters Lab, which was run in collaboration with the Sundance Institute and the Med Film Factory by the Royal Film Commission in Jordan.
  2. Maram Taibah
    Maram Taibah
    The filmmaker’s upcoming film “Malika” is a short fantasy movie about a young girl who goes on an adventure to find her dying grandmother’s lost crown.
  3. Raneem and Dana Almohandes
    Raneem and Dana Almohandes
    The sisters “aim to have the first Saudi musical … at Cannes very soon,” they previously told Arab News.
  4. Shahad Ameen
    Shahad Ameen
    Ameen’s 2019 film “Scales” played at the Venice Film Festival and she currently has another feature, titled “Hijra,” in the works.
  5. Fatima Al-Banawi
    Fatima Al-Banawi
    Al-Banawi’s feature film debut “Basma” tackles mental illness and follows a 26-year-old woman as she tries to help her father, who suffers from paranoid delusions.
  6. Tawfik Alzaidi
    Tawfik Alzaidi
    The director’s “Norah” became the first Saudi film to appear as part of the official selection at the Cannes Film Festival in May.