Saudi director Shahad Ameen won the "Bronze Tanit" award at the 30th Carthage Film Festival on Saturday night for the film "Scales" (Sayidat al bahr), which entered the official competition narrative feature films and was displayed for the first time in Tunisia.
The film revolves around the story of a young girl named Hayat, who is raised in a poor fishing village governed by oppressive traditions. The village is in thrall to mysterious sea, in which female children are presented for strange creatures living in the surrounding waters.
Scales, the debut movie of Saudi writer and director Shahad Ameen, addresses the issue of change in the role of women within society, through an unbridled imaginary context.
Scales, set in Oman, is inspired by Shahad's award-winning short film, Eye& Mermaid.
The film is starring artists Bassima Hajjar, Ashraf Barhoum, Yacoub Al Farhan, and Fatima Al Tai, produced by Image Nation, and has participated in a number of international festivals.
It is noteworthy that the young director Shahad Ameen studieddirecting at the Metropolitan Film School in London and then returned to SaudiArabia and worked as an assistant director in some commercials and films, andthen proceeded to continue her academic career by learning scenario writing inNew York. Her movie Eye & Mermaid won the best film award at Abu DhabiFestival.
