Widad Shafakoj
Widad Shafakoj is a Jordanian humanitarian activist and an award-winning filmmaker who has chosen films as a tool to relay her beliefs and concerns in society.
She graduated with a bachelor of arts in interior design and started working on several international and local film sets as a designer, which led her to earning a scholarship diploma in filmmaking.
Her directing credits include the award-winning short documentaries ID: 000, and the THE LAST PASSENGER that exposed the truth behind the Syrian refugees who escaped from Al-Zaatari Camp in Northern Jordan.
The documentary challenged the way the general masses viewed Syrian refugees and definitively impacted their lives.
Then, after four years of research, Shafakoj was able to depict one of the topics closest to her heart in the feature documentary IF YOU MEANT TO KILL ME, which addressed the controversial topic of women who voluntarily turn themselves into prison, often for their protection once faced with threats on their life when their honor is brought into question. 17 is her second feature length documentary.