It's a hot yet overcast and thus near insufferable day in downtown Kingston. Part of the busy Hanover Street-Beeston Street intersection has been roped off; anxious fans are crowded behind the rope, jostling for better viewing positions; there's media, crew and other staff filling various roles in the shoot area and her star, has a plane to catch.

Its an interesting tableau to say the least, but it doesn't faze video and feature director Sanaa Hamri. her welcoming smile is a constant, whether she's calling the shots on set, reviewing the scene or talking to this writer. Just another day at the office, even if the 'office' is open to all and sundry and punctuated by the sounds of Cham's Ghetto Story remix, featuring Alicia Keys, the video for which Hamri is directing.

Director Sanaa Hamri with a relaxed Alicia Keys on the Ghetto Story remix set. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

remarkable since the Morocco native initially had no intention of becoming a 'vid-kid'.
"I came to the United States at the age of 17, on a scholarship to Sarah Lawrence University to study theatre," she explains.

During her undergrad years, she had taken to editing music videos, really, she says, as a way of making extra cash, but that extra-curricular activity soon grew, and shortly after graduating, Hamri began making a name for herself by directing videos for Prince (Musicology, which was nominated for several MTV Video Music Awards); India Arie (The Truth and Little(more)Things, which won her an NAACP Image Award); Common featuring Mary J Blige (Come Close), Heather Headley (He Is), and rapper Jadakiss (Ask Why), among others.

Something New, her feature film debut (released earlier this year), ironically starred her namesake Sanaa Lathan. Hamri has at least one other feature in development.
Of the Cham-Keys project, the director said she was eager to take on directing video because of the content of the song. "I've done a lot of music videos, and I always try to work with people that have something substantial to say, so this was a great project for me because of Cham and Alicia and the song and what they are trying to express in it," she says.

Hamri is well aware of the propensity for music industry to fill music videos with scantily-clad 'hotties' and other similar types of images. "I try to be selective, it's not just a matter of the artistes that I've chosen to work with, but also the material. I don't want to be associated with anything that's going to be demeaning to women or that is not contributing to the upliftment of the youth in general," she says.

In that light, it was heartening for her to be in Jamaica and to be seeing the resilience on the young faces living out their own versions of the 'ghetto story'.
"There's just so many parallels between Jamaica and my home country of Morocco - the people here are so vibrant and accommodating, and the culture is just so rich, its really a dream for me to be here filming."

And feasting - at least on occasion. "I've done the whole nine yards as far as the food," the diminutive blonde says, that disarming smile a pleasant backdrop to her statements. "I've done the ackee, and the little round cakes [dumplings], the cow foot, the stew peas, everything. This is the way I prefer to experience another country, to really partake and get a feel for the culture and how people live and deal with the issues of life."

With that crash course on Jamaican culture, Sanaa Hamri returns to New York City (her present base). But don't be surprised if you see her around town in the future, training her camera not on some hot video star, but on the ordinary people whose extraordinary qualities spur great achievement from Kingston to Tangiers.

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