The themes of XENA were centered around female passion/rage, liberation, duality of culture, freedom of choice, and resistance. It explores a woman’s life post-revolution, while urging us to question what it means to be living in a reality riddled by its past and on the brink of a new future. What does freedom actually mean? What is the psychological experience of someone who’s now on the other side? What is the aftermath of a city experiencing its phenix moment? How can we challenge the link of past and future? These are some of the questions I wanted to explore.

American-Pakistani director Amara Abbas was born and raised in Chicago and moved to California in 2016 to begin her career in creative advertising and art direction. Since then she has created work for fashion & lifestyle brands and worked as a Creative at 72andSunny advertising agency. The bulk of her career was an in-house Art Director at Apple, where she crafted award-winning campaigns and films across iPhone, iOS, and iPad. In 2020, she directed the campaign The Only Way Is Through for Under Armour. The commercial illustrates the path to success with its difficulties and failures but above all the key to triumph: perseverance. Amara’s background in both art direction and creative advertising led to her greater interest in filmmaking, and in 2021 she debuted her first film, Twin Flame, a two and a half minute short that explores the visceral memories of a past flame that burned out as quickly as it was ignited. She is working on a second short, UKHT, an experimental narrative examining the cultural and religious identities of two 20-something Muslim-American women. Recently, she directed Malika for Politiken, a portrait piece starring Copenhagen-based DJ, Malika Mahmoud. Her most recent work includes ads for Woodford Reserve and Lexus and the Skrillex video Xena. For Kaiser Permanente, Amara’s spot Everyday Holds A Win shows basketball star Klay Thompson’s resilience after two injuries and 941 days away from the game. The film’s empowering message led it to win a 2022 Clio Sports Bronze. Amara’s focus lies in her insatiable curiosity in people and discovering new ways to move them through striking imagery and unexplored territories. In November 2022, she was just one of 20 creative professionals 30 years and under to collect The One Club’s Young Guns award.