Sanaa Hamri (Arabic: سناء حمري; born November 19, 1977)[1] is a Moroccan-American film, television, and music video director.
She is known for her 2010 film Just Wright and the 2008 movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, as well as for her music video for the Nicki Minaj song "Super Bass".
Scholar Shelley Cobb has credited Hamri's work as "[offering] alternative representations of black women that productively engage with and even challenge usual stereotypes, even as they use and conform to mainstream cinematic conventions".
[5] In fact, Hamri's mother was the long-time secretary to Joseph A. McPhillips III, the headmaster of the American School of Tangier, who was later in charge of Bowles' estate.
[2] Hamri then moved from seeking an acting career to making videos and was eventually noticed by cinematographer, Malik Hassan Sayeed.
She has directed videos for Nicki Minaj, Lenny Kravitz, Joss Stone, Sting, Common, Raven-Symoné, Eric Benet, Amel Larrieux, Jay-Z, A*Teens, and Christina Aguilera.
In the video Minaj is portrayed as a "Black Harajuku Barbie", an element which, according to Nina Cartier, satirizes white beauty standards.
[4][page needed] Hamri's second film as director was 2008's The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, with America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel and Blake Lively, which was released on August 6, 2008.
[13] On being a non-white woman working in Hollywood, Hamri states: "I don't feel this huge weight on me by any means," continuing that she is "not an international person" and she wants to be a part of movies "that people from all walks of life can enjoy, or get something out of.