Netflix has boarded Saudi Arabian multi-hyphenate Fatima Al-Banawi’s feature film debut “Basma” which tackles the theme of mental illness in her country.
The groundbreaking film is set in Jeddah, the city on the Red Sea’s eastern shore where Saudi’s Red Sea Film Festival is currently underway.
Besides writing and directing “Basma,” Al Banawi – who has a psychology degree and also a masters in theological studies from Harvard – also stars as the 26-year-old daughter of a man who suffers from paranoid delusions. Upon returning from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, Basma tries to save him from his spiraling mental instability before being forced to leave her father again.
Al-Banawi’s first acting role was in Mahmoud Sabbagh’s groundbreaking 2016 comedy “Barakah Meets Barakah” that put her in the international spotlight after the film went to Berlin and was selected as Saudi’s international Oscar candidate.
“Basma,” which...
The groundbreaking film is set in Jeddah, the city on the Red Sea’s eastern shore where Saudi’s Red Sea Film Festival is currently underway.
Besides writing and directing “Basma,” Al Banawi – who has a psychology degree and also a masters in theological studies from Harvard – also stars as the 26-year-old daughter of a man who suffers from paranoid delusions. Upon returning from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, Basma tries to save him from his spiraling mental instability before being forced to leave her father again.
Al-Banawi’s first acting role was in Mahmoud Sabbagh’s groundbreaking 2016 comedy “Barakah Meets Barakah” that put her in the international spotlight after the film went to Berlin and was selected as Saudi’s international Oscar candidate.
“Basma,” which...
- 12/2/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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