A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Alias:
فاطِــمَة البـنَوي
法蒂瑪·阿爾巴納維
Birthplace:
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Fatima AlBanawi is a creative writer, actress, performance and theatre director from Saudi Arabia. This multi-hyphenate creative who aspires to deepen the conversation and strengthen the bridge between social impact and the arts is the founder of The Other Story Project - Jeddah city’s public space mover and shaker since 2015. The project has collected almost 5000 real life stories from strangers and packaged many into productions, such as the short film "A Blink of an Eye". From the first touring Biennale in the world inaugurated in Buenos Aires, to Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Al-Banawi travels locally and internationally to perform human stories. Though a challenging endeavor in a private society, she believes in the power of storytelling to channel vulnerable and intimate conversations. She was selected as a Next Generation Leader by Time Magazine for her unique ventures, and was called the (Sophie Calle of Saudi Arabia) by members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris after the great reception of her performance “Amours Saoudiennes”. Al-Banawi received a masters in Theological Studies from Harvard University while focusing her scholarly writings on Gender and Identity in Muslim diaspora and contemporary Middle East, and shedding light on the sociology of film, literature, and issues of representation in both. She combines her passion for ethnography and creativity in her first book, The Other Story (work in progress), a personal memoir and social commentary on stories gathered from the streets over the years. This passion for psycho-social development and the arts is not new; it started in 2010 when Al-Banawi co-founded the Theatre of the Oppressed chapter in Jeddah and staged one of its plays at Harvard later on. Al-Banawi's latest theatre work as director and actress in "The Straight Circle" play has caught attention and made headlines for surpassing the classic elite structure as it moved to the streets of the city. Indeed Al-Banawi, the actress, is no less important. In 2016, Al-Banawi became internationally recognized for her debut in the award winning Saudi feature film, Barakah Meets Barakah. She continues to act as an instinctive response to her passion for the profession with an incentive to reshape the public narrative about human relations. She appeared in "Bashar" series, "A Blink of an Eye" short, "Roll’em" feature, and "Goin South" short. Today's leading actress also opens the doors to her studio (Alf Wad) as an acting coach, making it a hub to build and foster the actors' and film community in her country. She has been trained in the Undesirable Elements Theatre Method by Ping Chong & Company, in addition to Improv by both, Improv Playhouse of San Francisco and Lebanese award winner director, Lucien Bourjeily, and in acting methods by both Luke Lehner Studios and member of the Actor's Studio in LA, Gerald James. The multi-hyphenate creative has been featured for her acting and storytelling work in many media outlets including headlines in the Financial Times, The Reporter, Variety, France 24, and from American and Italian, to Egyptian and Saudi channels.
Director:
2018 A Blink of an Eye
2021 Becoming
2024 Basma
Producer:
2018 A Blink of an Eye
2021 Becoming
2024 Basma
Script Supervisor:
2018 A Blink of an Eye
2019 Rollem
2021 Becoming
2024 Basma
Writer:
2018 A Blink of an Eye
2019 Rollem
2021 Becoming
2024 Basma
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.