Sanctity by Saudi Director Ahd is part of the 10th Arab Film Festival Australia, which is held from June 27th to July 14th, 2013.

Shot on location in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Sanctity is written and directed by Saudi Filmmaker and Actress Ahd and is considered her second directorial effort. The film is produced by BIZIBI and SILVERGRAY with the participation of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l'image Animée CNC.

Sanctity is planned to screen in three different cities within the framework of the festival. The first screening was held on Sunday, June 30th at Riverside Theatres in Sydney, the second will be on Saturday, July 6th at the National Film and Sound Archive Action, Canberra, and the third screening will be held on Saturday, July 13th, 2013 at Cinema Nova Carlton.

The Arab Film Festival Australia is held in Australia, where many Arab-speaking residents are living, and aims to reflect the complexity and diversity of Arab experiences. The festival this year includes 11 films from across the Arab world, namely KSA, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco, and Algeria.

Sanctity won at the official Short Competition in the 6th Gulf Film Festival that took place last April, and recently participated in the 16th Ismailia International Film Festival for Documentaries and Shorts. In March, the film was part of the 7th Ayam Beirut Al Cinema'yia Arab Film Festival, and have also participated in the International Short Films section at the Bird's Eye View Film Festival, which was held in London and shed light on women's contributions to the cinema industry. In this year's installment of the aforementioned festival, the focus was to celebrate Arab women filmmakers.

Sanctity tells the story of Areej, a young widow who tries her best to protect her unborn child. Mohamed Othman stars opposite of Ahd in his first acting role in the film as well as veteran actor Mohamed Bakr.

Ahd's directorial debut was the short film The Shoemaker, where she played the title role opposite of the Egyptian actor Amr Waked. The film received numerous awards from Arab and international festivals including the Gulf Film Festival and Beirut International Film Festival, as well as competing in the official competition at the International Short Film Festival Clermont-Ferrand.

In October 2012, Ahd was selected as a jury member in the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. In the same year, Ahd participated in the highly acclaimed Venice International Film Festival through the Saudi film, Wadjda, where she played a supporting role. She also starred in the Turkish film, Razn, for which she won the Golden Gate Award for Best Actress at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The film also participated in Rotterdam Film Festival.

Ahd is the first Saudi woman to study film acting and filmmaking in the USA, after which she worked on Hollywood films including The Kingdom with Director Peter Berg in 2007.