Haifaa Al Mansour is the first female filmmaker from Saudi Arabia and the most prominent cinematic figure from the Kingdom. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Literature from the American University in Cairo and completed her Master’s in Directing and Film Studies from the University of Sydney under the prestigious Endeavor Scholarship Program. Starting with the success of her three short films, as well as the international acclaim of her award winning 2005 documentary Women Without Shadows, and continuing through her continued work in the International Film and Television industry, Haifaa has influenced and inspired a new wave of Saudi filmmakers. Al Mansour’s acclaimed 2012 film Wadjda received numerous awards and accolades at festivals around the world, including winning the Audience Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Foreign Language Film. She was awarded the 2016 Kant World Citizen Prize in Freiburg Germany, as well as the German Prize for Children’s Literature for her young adult novel based on the film entitled “Das Madchen Wadjda.” In 2017 Al Mansour released “Mary Shelley,” starring Elle Fanning and Douglas Booth, about the love affair between Percy and Mary Shelley as she wrote Frankenstein. She followed that film in 2018 with the Netflix film “Nappily Ever After” starring Sanaa Latham. She later premiered a short film at Venice Film Festival through Miu Miu’s “Women’s Tales” series entitled “The Wedding Singer’s Daughter. In 2019 she released “The Perfect Candidate,” about a female doctor who runs for political office in Saudi Arabia. Throughout that time she directed a variety of episodes for television and streaming services, including “Motherland” for Freeform, “The Good Lord Bird” for Showtime, “The Society” and “Archive 81” for Netflix, “The Wilds ” ”The Sinner” and “Bosch: Legacy” at Amazon, “Tales of the Walking Dead” and “Mayfair Witches” for AMC, and “City on Fire” for Apple. In 2025 Al Mansour will release her fifth film “Unidentified,” a mystery-thriller set in Saudi Arabia, through Sony Picture Classics in North America.