Faiza Saleh Ambah is a Saudi Arabian film writer-director and former
journalist
A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
for ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. She is also noted as having been one of the first female Saudi journalists.
[Abeer Mishkhas.]
The Quiet Revolution: Women at Arab News
. ''Arab News
''Arab News'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businessmen, executives and diplomats.
At least as of ...
''. April 5, 2005. Accessed August 7, 2009.
Career
She was one of the first, if not the first, female Saudi journalists to become a working reporter for a Saudi news organization when she joined the ''
Arab News
''Arab News'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businessmen, executives and diplomats.
At least as of ...
'' in the late 1980s.
She was later a writer with ''
The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
'', based in the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
,
then for ''
The Christian Science Monitor
''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles in electronic format as well as a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 as a daily newspaper ...
''.
[Staff biography. ]
Faiza Ambah
. ''The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''. undated. Accessed August 7, 2009. Beginning in 2006, she worked for a period as a correspondent for ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
s Foreign Service in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
.
She left her job as Gulf Correspondent for The Washington Post in 2009 to focus on
filmmaking
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...
and recently completed a summer program at the
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) houses seven academic divisions: Film & Television Production; Cinema & Media Studies; John C. Hench Division of Animation + Digital Arts; John Wells Division of Writing for Sc ...
. Faiza documented her experience at Sundance Institute's RAWI Screenwriters Lab in Jordan where she honed her storytelling skills under the guidance of Creative Advisors.
She worked on a script "A Reverence for Spiders" and was selected to participate in a
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers f ...
program.
In 2015, a French-language film "
Mariam" which she wrote and directed, dealing with a teenage French Muslim girl's dilemma over wearing an hijab after it was banned in schools, was released.
Family
Her father, Dr. Saleh Ambah, was the
College of Petroleum and Mineral's Dean of Students before being imprisoned by order of
King Faisal for expounding democratic ideals against the authoritarian rule of the
Al Saud
The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi state (1727–1818), and ...
.
References
External links
Faiza Ambah's biographyat ''The Washington Post'' website
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
The Washington Post people
Saudi Arabian women journalists
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