Sondos Shabayek is an Egyptian filmmaker, storytelling workshop facilitator and acting coach based in Berlin. She has over 12 years of experience in facilitating storytelling workshops, documenting personal narratives, and directing theater performances of women and gender-based stories.
She worked as the director of The BuSSy project; A performing arts project that documents gender based stories and presents them on stage. Prior to her work in theater, she studied broadcasting journalism and worked in media for 5 years, with a focus on personal narratives and social issues.
Sondos was the recipient of the 2021 Voices that Matter scholarship – Women in Screen industries and last October completed her MA in directing at the Metfilm school in Berlin. ‘When in Berlin’ is her most recent project; a short film about a cathartic moment between an Egyptian couple based in Berlin waiting in line to view a flat.
In 2013 she wrote and directed award winning ‘Girl’ a short film about harassment in Cairo, as part of ‘Women in new Egypt’ project launched by Misr international film company, the British embassy, and the British council. The short film portrayed a few minutes of the life of young girl while walking through the streets of Cairo, exposing the brutalities of street harassment at the time.
In 2019 she also wrote ‘The night before’, that was produced by Arabiska teatren in Sweden, and worked as the assistant director for the film. In her henna party (the women's only pre-wedding celebration), the bride whispers a question in the ears of several women in the party. We never hear the question, but we know from the reactions and responses she gets that what she is asking is unheard of, she is asking about sex for the first time.
Sondos is passionate about exploring authentically telling stories of herself and other women and being part of a truthful and honest representation of the lives of women on screen.