Maha Al-Saati (also known as Maha Zeini Al-Saati, Arabic: مها
الساعاتي) is a Saudi-based filmmaker, university professor and
graduate of Simon Fraser University who has taught both in Vancouver,
Canada and Saudi Arabia. She is a TIFF Share Her Journey Fellow. Her
style is experimental and says to be inspired by 90s MTV music videos.
Her research covers the representation of architectural spaces,
education through the use of film, and the influence of religion and
culture on media.Her film "Hair: The Story of Grass" is about the
beauty standards regarding body hair in the Arab World. It critiques
the treatment of the mentally ill, gender roles and the culture of
consumerism. This film has won Al-Saati the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association (HFPA) residency award of 2021. Her feature film "A Trip
to Disney" is about a woman who travels from Saudi to Disney World,
Florida only to find out she is abandoned by her prince. She
collaborated with American electronic opera composer Alice Shields on
making the film "Cycle of Apples". The film was also featured by The
Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI) screening at The Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Her film, "Fear: Audibly" is about a
girl's fear of the trumpet of doom which will end the world. The film
reflects a religious period in Saudi Arabia between the 1980s and
1990s. Its dependence on sound is influenced by the Islamic
restriction on visual depictions, often depending on oral narrations
distributed through cassette tapes. She is influenced by Slavoj
Žižek's Psychoanalytic description of sound as a disembodied entity
floating unnaturally like a ghost.
الساعاتي) is a Saudi-based filmmaker, university professor and
graduate of Simon Fraser University who has taught both in Vancouver,
Canada and Saudi Arabia. She is a TIFF Share Her Journey Fellow. Her
style is experimental and says to be inspired by 90s MTV music videos.
Her research covers the representation of architectural spaces,
education through the use of film, and the influence of religion and
culture on media.Her film "Hair: The Story of Grass" is about the
beauty standards regarding body hair in the Arab World. It critiques
the treatment of the mentally ill, gender roles and the culture of
consumerism. This film has won Al-Saati the Hollywood Foreign Press
Association (HFPA) residency award of 2021. Her feature film "A Trip
to Disney" is about a woman who travels from Saudi to Disney World,
Florida only to find out she is abandoned by her prince. She
collaborated with American electronic opera composer Alice Shields on
making the film "Cycle of Apples". The film was also featured by The
Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI) screening at The Academy of
Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.Her film, "Fear: Audibly" is about a
girl's fear of the trumpet of doom which will end the world. The film
reflects a religious period in Saudi Arabia between the 1980s and
1990s. Its dependence on sound is influenced by the Islamic
restriction on visual depictions, often depending on oral narrations
distributed through cassette tapes. She is influenced by Slavoj
Žižek's Psychoanalytic description of sound as a disembodied entity
floating unnaturally like a ghost.
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