Fatima Al-Banawi
Fatima Al-Banawi | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Fatima Al-Banawi |
| Nationality | Saudi |
| Alma mater | Effat University Harvard University |
| Occupation(s) | Director, producer, screenwriter, social activist, actress |
| Years active | 2015–present |
| Height | 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) |
| Website | www.fatimaalbanawi.com |
Fatima Al-Banawi (Arabic: فاطمة البنوي) is a Saudi Arabian filmmaker and actress.[1] She is best known as the director and actress of popular television serials and films Barakah Meets Barakah, A Blink of an Eye and Paranormal. Apart from performing arts, she is also a renowned storyteller in Saudi Arabia.[2]
Personal life
Al-Banawi was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. She graduated with a degree in Counseling Psychology from Effat University in Jeddah.[3] Then she started to work against violence at the Family Protection Society in Jeddah.[4] In the meantime, she completed her master's degree in Theological Studies from Harvard University specialized on Women, Gender, and Islamic Studies.[1]
During her undergraduate period, she attended an advanced oil painting course at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. She worked as a social development and women's empowerment consultant at the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for few months before entering the performing arts.[3]
Career
She founded the story telling project called 'The Other Story Project' in 2015.[5] Through the project, she has collected almost 5000 real life stories from strangers.[6] By using these lives, Al-Banawi later directed the short film A Blink of an Eye. Meanwhile, she has traveled locally and internationally to perform human stories.[4] Later in 2018 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris call her the 'Sophie Calle of Saudi Arabia' upon the warm reception of her performance "Amours Saoudiennes" . In the same year, she was selected as a Next Generation Leader by Time Magazine.[1]
By using her experiences and gathered information from strangers in her hometown of Jeddah between 2015 and 2018, she wrote her first book, 'The Other Story'.[3] In 2010, she co-founded the 'Theatre of the Oppressed Chapter' located in Jeddah. Then she started to perform many stage plays at the theater. Later some of its plays were performed at Harvard.[1][4]
In 2016, she made her film debut in the award-winning Saudi feature film, Barakah Meets Barakah.[7] She was internationally recognized with the role and made the way for Saudi Arabian cinema.[4] The film was selected as the Saudi Arabian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards (the second time the country made a submission for the Oscars).[8] The film premiered at the Forum section of the 66th Berlin International Film Festival making it the first Saudi feature film to premiere at the festival.[9]
Then she appeared in the television serial Bashar and the short Going South. The latter was represented at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. In 2019, she made a special appearance in the feature film Roll’em and television serial Om AlQalayed.[1] In 2019, she directed the stage play The Straight Circle Play in which she also played the lead role.[3]
In 2020, Al-Banawi appeared in the Egyptian web series Paranormal which was based on the supernatural book series Ma Waraa Al Tabiaa written by Ahmed Khaled Tawfik.[10][11] In the series, she played a supportive role of 'Nargis'. The series was released on 5 November 2020 on Netflix, becoming Netflix's first Egyptian Original.[12]
In 2020, she made her maiden film screenplay through the film Basma. In mid-2020, she wrote and directed her first short film Until We See Light. Then during the global COVID-19 pandemic, she co-wrote, co-directed and starred in television serial Al-Shak Series, which she shot fully from home during the lockdown.[1]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Genre | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Barakah Meets Barakah | Actress: Barakah / Bibi | Film | |
| 2018 | A Blink of an Eye | Director, writer, actress: Narrator | Film | |
| 2019 | Roll'em | Script supervisor, Actress: Sophie | Film | |
| 2019 | Goin South | Actress: Aya | Short film | |
| 2020 | Doubt | Director, writer, actress: Samar | TV Series short | |
| 2020 | Paranormal | Actress: Nargis | TV Series | |
| TBD | Champions | Actress: Nada | Film |
References
- ^ a b c d e f "About Fatima Al-Banawi". Fatima Al-Banawi official website. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Telling Saudi Stories". Time. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Fatima Al-Banawi, Saudi writer, actress, and performing artist". Arab News. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ a b c d "Fatima Albanawi bio". naseba. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "The Uncensored Stories of Regular Saudis are the Subject of this Ambitious Project". Official be spoke. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Fatima Al-Banawi: Media Development and Content Creator for "The Other Project"". UNITED NATIONS ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS (UNAOC). Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ "Fatima Al-Banawi's Saudi stories mine the personal and the universal". France 24. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
- ^ Saudi Arabia Submits Second Ever Film, ‘Barakah Meets Barakah,’ for Oscar Foreign Language Race 2016
- ^ "| Berlinale |". Berlinale.de. 2016-12-19.
- ^ "Stream It Or Skip It: 'Paranormal' On Netflix, An Egyptian Thriller Where A Sad Sack Professor Gets Roped Into Rooting Out Ghosts And Spirits". Decider. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
- ^ "Paranormal – Netflix Review". Heaven of Horror. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
- ^ "The seventh day, Amr Salama and Aya Samaha are interviewing about the series Metaphysics … I know what they said". eg24. Retrieved 2020-11-08.