Soula SAAD is a writer, producer, and director whose images and music transcend borders. Raised during the war in Lebanon, she was forced to flee Beirut, which led to living in Cyprus, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, England, and France. She developed a passion for travel, world cultures, and world music.
She studied in Switzerland and France, and it was in Paris that she turned her focus to film. She worked as an international correspondent for Jeanne Moreau’s independent filmmaker’s development lab, Equinoxe.
Soula helped hundreds of independent film projects get developed under the supervision of international professional screenwriters, producers, directors, editors, and distributors, before crossing behind the camera herself.to express her own compelling vision & use of music from around the globe as an intricate part of the script.
In 2005, Soula co-founded DreamAgo, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping develop meaningful stories from script to screen.
Between 2000 & 2010 Soula wrote, directed & narrated 8 documentary films and many educational films and music capsules, including award-winning Beirut Rising, which was nominated at Festival Cinéma-verité in Paris and Festival des Libertés in Brussels and received Best Documentary Award at the Women in Film & Television foundation International visionary Awards in 2010.
Since 2010 Soula has been developing a series of films on the Feminine voice of the Planet, amplifying in a musicomentary way, women’s voices from every culture. She has been traveling extensively to research, film, interview, document women around the world, compiling portraits of inspiring & empowering women and female vocalists, which became FÉMINITUDE.
FÉMINITUDE’s first opus, ELEELÉ -TELL ME, takes the viewer into the labyrinth of different subcultures & social backgrounds of Middle-Eastern society, to meet 28 Middle-Eastern women who are far from the submissive, victimized Arab woman cliché. You can see the trailer here.
The film has been screening at Arezzo’s Art Biennale, Italy, Cannes film Festival, France Bsous Silk Museum, Lebanon, ESA Business school Women Empowerment Program, Beirut, Documentary film festival, Montreal, and International Women Forum France before it’s first LA Avant-Première screening on International Women day at the Olandar Foundation for Emerging Renaissance in Malibu. Screenings have turned into eclectic multi-media gatherings in unique international locations, promoting women artists, creating exposure for musicians, composers, singers, chefs, to a cultural creative global audience, connecting creative talents and supporting several creative collaborations encountered during production.
This winter, Naturaw-chef Marie-Sophie’s portrait was filmed in Los Angeles while she was the VIP chef for the LA Vegan Fashion Week. Marie-Sophie had a tasting of her Award Winning vegan foie Gras at a Feminitude event in Paris, and on March 8th, FEMINITUDE Celebration of International women day, she will be having a tasting of her signature dishes in Malibu.
Figuring out ways to creatively fund not only the Feminitude Films but also other women’s art projects through Crowd funding and fundraiser events led to an amazing creative collaboration with Channel the Sun Magazine, co-creating together their next issue, HONOR THE MOON, a sort of artistic caravan promoting women’s art, writings, songs & point of view from around the world, coming out in print and online this Spring at Channelthesun.com
This Spring FÉMINITUDE will be filming its next episode in Italy, with French Pianist Melissa Briaud playing with 40 other pianists in Napoli: PIANO CITY NAPOLI.
To stay tuned and follow FEMINITUDE new events, you can LINK TO FEMINITUDE FACEBOOK PAGE
