Effat University girls at the fourth annual Saudi Film Festival in Dhahran
It was lights, camera, and action in Dhahran last week with the fourth annual Saudi Film Festival running. The Saudi student-duo, who bagged the winning trophy for their short film ‘Bus,’ are Noor Al-Mowald and Norah Al-Amir.
The girls who are filmmaking students from Effat University in Jeddah won the Student Film category for Best Documentary among 10 other candidates.
Bus is a short film revolving around four girls hailing from conservative families, and their everyday interaction with the school bus driver.
Highly elated to walk home victorious, Al-Amir said it was a dream come true. “The hard work doesn’t stop here,” she continued, adding that the win came just in time to prove they, as females, have a place in the industry.
Commenting on the win of his students, Mohamed Ghazala, chair of the visual and digital production department at the university said, “These young women are fighting to prove themselves, telling their stories to everyone.”
Calling them, “the best storytellers,” Ghazala said by telling their stories themselves, the girls are breaking stereotypes.
Saudi Arabia’s Effat University is currently one of the only institutions in the Kingdom offering filmmaking courses as part of its curriculum, which is an absent major for the male students in the country.
