Fe-Male in partnership with the Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering- RDFL and by the support of the Norwegian People’s Aid produced a twenty minutes documentary, about Women’s image in Lebanese media and Ads, titled “Image upon Request”. The documentary was produced and directed by Jad Ghosn, a Lebanese journalist and reporter.
The documentary began with an introduction describing the male-biased social setting in Lebanon, and then it laid down the political and socioeconomic framework through which the gender problems are revealed. Through extracts from different TV series, advertisements, video clips, billboards and some Lebanese talk shows, the producer highlighted the patriarchal tendencies in the Lebanese society and how they are manifested in the media.
The documentary highlighted the portrayal of women in the media and advertisements, in addition to critically assessing and discussing this kind of portrayal through four interviews done with the lawyer and feminist activist Manar Zaiter, the social and psychological expert Caroline Slaiby, TV presenter Rima Karaki and the creative director of the advertising agency “Phenomena”, Sami Saab.
This documentary is the first of its kind in Lebanon, over which Fe-Male organized a number of screening events all over Lebanon and its content was discussed with a big number of journalists, feminists, social activists, academics, youth, designers, university students, experts, representatives of government and advertisements agencies…