Sanaa Hamri () is a Moroccan American music video and film director. She is one of the few prominent female film and music video directors of color.

Early Life and break-through

Hamri was born in Tangier, Morocco to the late Moroccan painter and author, Mohammed Hamri. In 1992, the age of 17, she won a scholarship to Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she studied theatre. She studied in Paris her junior year of college, graduated in 1996, then moved to Manhatten. With dreams of becoming an actress, Hamri struggled through auditions and unemployment before she decieded to try directing. Sanaa taught herself to use an Avid editing machine in 2000 and has never taken a filmmaking course. Realizing, she had a talent for putting images together in order to tell a story, Hamri began making videos and approaching the music industry. Sarah Lawrence Magazinebeautiful People 2006: Sanaa Hamri

Her big break came, when video mogul Malik Sayeed saw one of her early productions and loved it. He showed it to Mariah Carey, who was just as impressed as Malik and hired Sanaa to direct her video. He also gave Hamri her first editing job for a reggae/ hip hop fusion group call Born Jamacians. Hamri made her directing debut two years later after meeting music viedo director Hype Williams. Director Sanaa Hamri Gears Up for Her Second Motion Picture