Sara is a Yemeni-Scottish film director, screenwriter, and trainer. Born in Scotland and raised in Yemen, she is currently based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Sara graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2007 majoring in Theology, Middle Eastern Politics, and International Law. After several years freelancing for TV outlets such as the BBC, she pursued an MFA in Film Directing at the Edinburgh College of Art (UoE), during which she documented Yemen's 2011 Arab Spring uprising for international media outlets including BBC News, Channel 4, Al-Jazeera, and directed two independent films: her debut short documentary Karama Has No Walls (2012) and her personal documentary The Mulberry House (2013).

Karama Has No Walls was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Short and a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award in 2014. The Mulberry House premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in 2013, winning several international awards and later broadcasting on Al Jazeera English.

Alongside her own filmmaking, Sara began leading film training camps in Yemen in the wake of the 2015 war, leading to the creation of Comra, a film academy (2017–2023) that nurtured more than 70 emerging Yemeni filmmakers. Since 2023, she continues to produce films from Yemen through her company Setara Films, while also running independent mentorship programs in the Arab world through Marsa Foundation, which she co-founded in 2020. Between 2022 and 2026, Sara ran the International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk - a non-profit that advocates for filmmakers facing risk worldwide.

Sara's debut fiction feature The Station premiered at Cannes Semaine de la Critique in 2026, having won the La Biennale di Venezia Prize 2025 for Best Film in Post-Production at the Venice Film Festival.

Sara has served as a jury member at leading international film festivals and funds.