Fatma Racha Shehadeh

FATMA RACHA SHEHADEH wrote and directed her first film, ZIKRA, as her senior project at the Lebanese American University. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival Short Corner in 2016 and was officially selected in several festivals like: The Phenician International film festival, NDU international film festival and Los Angeles Cinefest. ZIKRA received the Bronze Palm at Mexico International Film Festival under Student films competition and the Prix d'honneur at Ora Union Film festival.

Soon after that she directed her first independent short film MUSE – Nagham Hayati who also premiere at Cannes Film Festival Short Corner in 2017 and was officially selected at many festivals like: The Lebanese Film Festival AUSTRALIA, Bucharest ShortCut Cinefest, Short to the Point (International Short Film Festival), Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran, Iran and the Social World Film Festival in Naples, Italy.

MUSE received The Fevoss Prize dedicated to Solidarity at San Giò Video Festival. Shehadeh participated three times in the 48-hour film competition with two films: INKED that won 1st Runner Up, Best Directing, Best Editing and Best Male Actor, TEXTURE that won Best Cinematography, and FLY HIGH that won 1st Runner Up, Best Directing, Best Script and Best Production Design at the competition.

FLY HIGH was then officially selected at Rabat International Author Film Festival, Silk Road International Film Festival, Beirut International Women Film Festival and Lahazat Film Festival. Shehadeh completed her Master's degree in cinematography at the Lebanese University and photographed over 20 short films that are touring in festivals. Shehadeh was honored at the 2019 Lahazat Film Festival, where she received the Best Cinematographer Award for her achievements in cinematography.