Shahad Ameen

Shahad Ameen (Arabic: شهد أمين) is a Saudi filmmaker best known for directing the 2019 film Scales.^[1]

Shahad Ameen شهد أمين
Born	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Education	University of West London
Occupation(s)	Film director, screenwriter

Early life and education

Ameen was born and raised in Jeddah. She attended the University of West London and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Video Production and Film Studies.^[2] In 2012, she participated in the screenwriting conservatory at the New York Film Academy.^[3]

Career

Ameen's first short film, Our Own Musical, was released in 2009. Leila's Window, her 2011 short film about a young girl's alienation from her family, screened at the Gulf Film Festival and the Saudi Film festival.^[2][4]

In 2013, Ameen's short film Eye & Mermaid debuted at the Dubai International Film Festival. Telling the story of a girl who learns the pearls her father brings their family have been taken from mermaids, the short also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival and was recognized with the Best Cinematography award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.^[4]

After completing the script for Eye & Mermaid, Ameen began work on her first feature-length project, also about mermaids. The resulting film, Scales, premiered at the International Critic's Week portion of the 76th Venice International Film Festival in 2019.^[1]

In May 2024, Variety reported that Ameen's second feature film, Hijra, was in production after years of development.^[5]

Filmography

Year	Title	Notes	Ref.
2009	Our Own Musical	Short film	[2]
2011	Leila's Window	Short film	[2]
2013	Eye & Mermaid	Short film	[2]
2019	Scales	—	[2]
TBA	Hijra †	—	[5]

Key

†	Denotes films that have not yet been released

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2014	Abu Dhabi Film Festival	Best Cinematography	Eye & Mermaid	Won	[2][4]
	Emirates Film Competition	Short Narrative Competition		Won	[6]
2019	Venice Film Festival	International Critics' Week	Scales	Nominated	[2]
		Verona Film Club Award		Won	[2]
	BFI London Film Festival	Best First Feature		Won	[1]
	Carthage Film Festival	Official Competition Narrative Feature Film		Bronze Tanit	[7]
	Singapore International Film Festival	Best Asian Feature Film		Won	[8]
2020	Taipei Film Festival	International New Talent Competition		Nominated	[9]
	Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival	Best Feature Film		Won	[10]