Creators of the Short Film Madina Papel: Samah Damanhoori and Eun BI Chang

Samah Damanhoori and Eun Bi Chang, creators of the new stop motion/2D hybrid animated short film, Madina Papel, that explores identity and belonging.

Madina Papel tells the story of a young man who returns home after being exposed to the “colors” of the world. In the city of paper, experiencing anything other than what is in the colorless city walls is forbidden and highly punishable The young man then struggles to be accepted by his family because of his newfound color obtained from opening his mind and heart to the outside world. Samah Damanhoori is a storyteller, content creator, and whose story is the driving force behind Madina Papel.

Born and raised in Saudi Arabia before, she arrived in the United States to attend a graduate program at Notre Dame de Namur University in California. Due to Saudi law, the guardianship system, Samah needed her father to give her his consent to travel to the U.S. and then he traveled with her to California to enroll her in classes. However, after giving her permission to stay in the country without a male escort and returning back to Saudi Arabia, he changed his mind. In order to remain in the U.S. to continue her education, Samah cut ties with her family and applied for political asylum.

Today, Samah speaks out against guardianship, the abuse and control it generates, and is an active supporter for Saudi women’s rights. Madina Papel is her story and what it means to accept others for their differences. Eun Bi Chang is the director and animator of Madina Papel. She loves to tell stories through every medium she can get her hands on. Besides being a filmmaker, she is also a photographer, a teacher, events lead for a meetup group called Filmologic, and an aspiring professional traveler.