Held for 10 days from February 7, Saudi director and actress Ahad Kamel will show her short film Sanctity at the Berlin International Film Festival 2013. It is also the first Saudi film to feature in the festival. Shot on location in Jeddah, the film is a story of Areej, a young Saudi widow who tries to do her best […]
Held for 10 days from February 7, Saudi director and actress Ahad Kamel will show her short film Sanctity at the Berlin International Film Festival 2013. It is also the first Saudi film to feature in the festival.
Shot on location in Jeddah, the film is a story of Areej, a young Saudi widow who tries to do her best to protect her unborn child. The film is produced by Bizibi and Silvergray with the participation of the Center National du Cinéma et de lImage Animée CNC. Actor Mohamed Ottman stars opposite Ahad in his first acting role, alongside veteran actor Mohamed Baker.
The film was awarded the Development Award at Doha Tribeca Film Festival in November 2012, in the Arab Short Film Competition that included twelve films from across the Arab World.
Sanctity is Kamels second directorial effort. She is also heralded to be the first Saudi woman to study acting and filmmaking in the USA. The Hollywood films that she has worked upon include The Kingdom with director Peter Berg in 2007.
Kamels directorial debut was the short film The Shoemaker, which she wrote, produced and in which she starred with Egyptian actor Amr Waked. The film received numerous awards from Arab and international festivals, including the Gulf Film Festival and Beirut Film Festival.
Kamel has also acted in the Turkish film Razn for which she won the Golden Gate Award for Best Actress at the San Francisco International Film Festival. She was a lead actress in Wadjda, a film by Saudi director Haifa Al-Mansour, which recently won Best Arabic Feature Film at the Dubai Film Festival.
