Fatima Al-Banawi

Already a luminous presence on the Saudi film scene, Fatima Al-Banawi is a multi-talented actress and writer who is now completing her first feature film as a director. She was selected for TIME magazine’s Young Generations Leaders List in 2018 for her storytelling about life in Saudi Arabia, a project called The Other Story which is now out as a book.

Many filmgoers will have taken note of the actress in the lead role of Barakah Meets Barakah, which was KSA’s official Oscar submission in 2016 and in a wide range of film genres in such works as AlHamour (2023), Route 10 (2022), Champions (2021), Sixty Minutes (2021), Paranormal (2020), and the Covid-inspired mini-series Al-Shak, which she cowrote and codirected.

Holding an M.A. from Harvard (her research centered around Arab Identity and Gender Representation) and a B.A. in Counseling Psychology, Al-Banawi is not only highly qualified but also comfortable on the international scene. Her well-reviewed short film Until We See the Light was part of the Red Sea anthology of five emerging women directors, Becoming. She has just completed filming her first feature film, Basma, based on her original screenplay; it is scheduled for release this year. She founded the Alf Wad Production House and is a member of the board on Saudi Arabia’s first professional association for Theater and Performing Arts under the Ministry of Culture.