Khadija al-Salami ( ar, خديجة السلامي; born November 11, 1966, in

Sana'a Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Gover ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

), is the first Yemeni female film producer and director. Al-Salami currently resides in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. She has been nominated and also won awards at film festivals such as the Dubai International Film Festival and Vesoul Asian Film Festival. Her semi-autobiographical 2014 film, '' I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced'' was submitted to the Academy Awards, but was not selected.

Early life and education

At an early age, al-Salami was sent to live with relatives after her mother divorced her father over severe

domestic abuse Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partne ...

. At age 11, she was forced by her grandmother into an early marriage and was raped by her husband. Some weeks later her husband returned her to her uncle, who immediately disowned her and returned her to her single mother. She escaped the immense family and society pressure by finding employment with the local

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...

and simultaneously attending school in the mornings which was her only output for happiness. At the age of 16, she received a scholarship to finish secondary school in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Subsequently, she enrolled at the Mount Vernon College for Women, in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

After a period in Yemen and Paris, she returned to Washington to earn her

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in communications at the American University. For her thesis, she produced her first film.

Career

Al-Salami began her career making documentaries, whose primary foci are women, including ''A Stranger in her Own City'' (2005) about exile and how home can keep one trapped with the traditions one grew up in. She was inspired to created this film from her own experiences with arranged marriage as well as the experience of a young girl by the name of Najmia who was 13 years old at the time. She said enjoyed filming her because of her carefree spirit and of how she had reminded al-Salami at her age. Al-Salami stated that it was "never aired on Yemeni television as they were not used to such controversial subject matter". Another of her documentaries, ''Scream'' (2013) is about the roles of women during Yemen's 2011 uprising. Al-Salami has produced several documentaries for various

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

s in France and Yemen. Her 2014 film, '' I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced,'' which was shot entirely in Yemen, recounts the true story of Nujood Ali, Yemen’s most famous child bride, who was married off at ten and filed for divorce in court. Al-Salami did not want to tell only Nujood’s story, but also her own and that of many other Yemeni child brides to allow other young girls to understand the effects of these marriages. Unlike most of her subsequent films, this one was only shot in Yemen, and she currently resides in Paris, This movie won her the best feature film at the Dubai International Film Festival and was also shown at other festivals. ''I Am Nojoom, Age 10 and Divorced'', became the first Yemeni film to be submitted for consideration for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 89th Academy Awards. She has also co-authored with her current husband, the American Charles Hoots, an autobiography, '' The Tears of Sheba''. Al-Salami currently serves as Press and Cultural

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...

and Director of the Yemeni Information Centre at the

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually den ...

of Yemen in Paris.

Works

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Publishers' Biography
*http://www.desphinx.nl/ca/film.php?id=womdem *http://www.tiburonfilmfestival.com/contactInfo.php?contact_id=2906 *http://www.chris-kutschera.com/A/Khadija.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Salami, Khadija al- 1966 births American University School of Communication alumni Child marriage in Yemen French film producers French people of Yemeni descent Living people Marital rape Mount Vernon Seminary and College alumni People from Sanaa Violence against women in Yemen Yemeni emigrants to France