Fatima Al-Banawi

Fatima Al-Banawi (, ) is a Saudi Arabian filmmaker and actress. 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. She is also a renowned storyteller in Saudi Arabia.

Personal life Al-Banawi was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to a family of Turkish, Bosnian, Lebanese and Syrian origin. She graduated with a degree in counseling psychology from Effat University in Jeddah. She then started to work against violence at the Family Protection Society in Jeddah. In the meantime, she completed her master's degree in theological studies from Harvard University specializing in women, gender, and Islamic studies. Through the project, she has collected almost 5000 real-life stories from strangers. 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. She was internationally recognized with the role and made the way for Saudi Arabian cinema. 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.

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. 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.

In 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. and Champions, an adaptation of a Spanish film about a soccer team with special needs members, both films were produced by MBC Group and Image Nation. In 2023, Al-Banawi appeared for the first time of her career in the Egyptian cinema, in the comedy film El Ameel Sefr directed by Karim El-Adl and starring Akram Hosny. The film was produced by Oscar for Distribution and Theaters. In 2024, she directed her feature film Basma, after winning a fund from the Red Sea International Film Festival.

Filmography