Maha Al-Saati (also known as Maha Zeini Al-Saati,[1] Arabic: مها الساعاتي) is a Saudi-based filmmaker,[2][3] university assistant professor[4][5] and graduate of Simon Fraser University[6][7] who has taught both in Vancouver, Canada and Saudi Arabia.[8][9] She is a TIFF filmmaker lab 2020 alum[10] and recipient of the Share Her Journey award.[11][12][13] Her style is experimental and says to be inspired by 90s MTV music videos.[14] Her research covers the representation of architectural spaces,[7] education through the use of film,[5] and the influence of religion and culture on media.[6]

Maha Al-Saati مها الساعاتي
Maha Al-Saati at Fantastic Fest 2017
Alma mater	Simon Fraser University
Occupation	University Professor, Filmmaker

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.[15] This film has won Al-Saati the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) residency award of 2021[16] and has played at Fantastic Fest[17] and Slamdance Film Festival.[18][19] Her feature film "A Trip to Disney" (later known as Hejj to Wonderland,[20] Pilgrim in Wonderland)[21][22][23] is about a woman who travels from Saudi to Wonderland, North America, only to find out she is abandoned by her prince.[24] Its themes explores themes of capitalism and commercialization that is disguised through fairytales. The film is told in a comedic tone, and has received development support from El Gouna Film Festival,[18] Red Sea Film Fund[25] and also featured in Nouveau Marché[26] of Festival du nouveau cinéma.[27]

Al-Saati collaborated with American electronic opera composer Alice Shields on making the film Cycle of Apples.[28][29] The film was also featured by The Arab Film and Media Institute (AFMI) screening at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[30] 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.[31][14]

References

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