2022 Winners & Shortlists

Write a short summary of what happens in the film

In Arabic the word menopause means "The Age of Despair". The film that launched the campaign is a music video featuring strong-minded women from the region wanting to erase "Age of Despair" forever from the Arabic Language. In the beginning of the film we see different influential women, burning, tearing, breaking the "Age of Despair", in the second part we see them working on their creations and the third part they reveal their positive alternatives. The end of the film is an invitation for other women to share their own suggestions. The Audio of the film uses traditional Arab sad music "Tarab" but with a modern positive happy twist. With Tarab Star Ghalia, we created a song that slowly turned the negativity of ‘The Age of Despair’ and the cries of the old traditional "Tarab" into a positive call for change.

Cultural / Context information for the jury

In Arab culture the stigma around menopause is more acute than anywhere else. In Arabic it is labelled ‘Senn el Yass’ - “The Age of Despair”. We started with culture and tried to get an understanding of the dynamics at play in our biggest market, Saudi Arabia. What we found excited us; we uncovered that Saudi women were increasingly gaining the ability and courage to be heard. A drive to re-invent themselves in the eyes of societal change was apparent, and if our women could be brave enough to challenge the status-quo, then so could we. Speaking to women in Saudi within the age range of menopause we found that their perception of menopause didn't match the stigma imparted by wider patriarchal society. Menopause in their eyes was actually a time to positively embrace, a time of maturity, calmness and a time when women can become more exploratory and creative.