User:Ghada Saba

Ghada Saba
Ghada Saba, Jordan’s first female cinema director, is a pioneering filmmaker, well known for tackling social problems and taboos. Her first foray into the industry was assistant director to world-renowned late Egyptian director, Youssef Chahine, legendary for touching upon risqué subject-matter in his films.

In 2004, Saba returned to Amman determined to lay the groundwork for a genuine film industry in Jordan. She founded No Budget Films (NBF), a production company aimed at helping aspiring young filmmakers. Many of the young talents she nurtured at NBF have since created award-winning films worldwide.

In addition to workshops and seminars, NBF launched a phenomenal biannual march entitled « The Walk » which gathered Arab film industry professionals in Jordan in order to underscore the importance of featuring and documenting social causes in cinema and TV productions.

Saba has written, directed, and produced over 250 documentaries and short films.

She has boldly defied conventional and gender-related norms in a country where the majority is still largely bound by conservative mentalities. Currently, Ms. Saba is producing a weekly report on “Ro’ya TV”, Jordan’s most popular privately owned TV station, highlighting the success of empowered women within their local communities. Through these reports, Ms. Saba tries to feature the situation of the Jordanian families thus contributing as a media professional in the social,political and economic reform in the country.

Ghada Saba most recent project, #Youre_Mine, launched on the occasion of the International Women Day in cooperation with the International Women Forum (IWF) using a Public Service Awareness video.

This initiative sheds light on domestic violence. It aims to raise awareness at the grassroots level and finds solutions to a largely ignored problem in the region. For this purpose and since Ms. Saba is a well-known figure in Jordan, she organizes workshops in the different towns and villages all over the country in which participates  abused women and men who usually practice violence in their homes.

Since the beginning of this #Youre_Mine project, Saba has managed to make it viral through the different media platforms using the social media as a main tool in her outreach program. In addition she trained a group of Yarmouk University students to produce a play which was presented at Jadara University in order to advocate against article 308 in the Jordanian Penal Law that suspends the penalty execution and giving the perpetrator immunity by getting married with the victim who is the raped woman. Ms. Saba participated in a panel discussion (Women who Lead) organized by the Yahoo Business and Human Rights Program, #Changeyourworld which took place in Amman May 2014. Currently, Ms. Saba is working on fundraising within her community by presenting creative ideas implemented among the youth in order to show how peace and positive thinking can replace violence. For example, she is working with young rappers and actors to fundraise and advocate against violence.

In addition to the above and through her different activities among women in the Jordanian society, Ghada Saba is advocating against violence and women stereotyping practiced in the community. By means of interviews in the media, the production of plays and TV spots, participating in seminars and organizing workshops she is portraying a new understanding and a change of behaviour, thus promoting new messages of harmony, non-violence and peace in the Jordanian society.

In 2015 Ghada took her work to a different level and established a non profit organization “Saba Hamlet for Gender Equality “SHGE”. Especially after being one of Beijing +20 gender equality Champion from UN Women and participated in CSW59 NGO in United nation headquarters in 2015 also she was one of the main panelist by the permanent Mission of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the UN and Jordanian National Commission for Women with the support of UN Women in Jordan.