6 Saudis who were game changers in 2016

Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh is helping his country's film industry break out of its shell.

His film "Barakah Meets Barakah" was Saudi Arabia's second-ever entry at the Academy Awards. It was set to compete under the Best Foreign Language Film category. Even though it didn't make the short-list, it drew a lot of attention at film festivals around the world.

Set in Jeddah, the film depicts the relationship between a young couple who must battle through the constraints of societal segregation in the conservative kingdom, to find a way to go on a first date.

"Mahmoud Sabbagh is a representative of a new generation who will soon be pioneers in the history of filmmaking in Saudi Arabia," said Sultan Al Bazie, chairman of the nominating committee, according to Deadline.

"This generation, who submitted more than 70 films in the third Saudi Film Festival organized by SASCA last March, are showing a lot of creativity and determination to express themselves and their culture through cinema," he added. 

The first film to represent the kingdom was Haifaa Al Mansour's "Wadjda" (2014).

Back in 2012, a Saudi artist who goes by the name Ms Saffaa moved to Sydney to pursue a PhD with a Saudi government scholarship. 

But there was a catch: she needed to live with a "male guardian" who would supervise her during the course of her stay.

"The government asked me a few times to prove that my male guardian was with me. At the time I was, I think, 31 or 32, and I found it humiliating, dehumanizing in many ways," Ms Saffaa said in an interview with PBS. 

It was the "moment that kind of shaped" her career. She decided to create art that centered on male guardianship laws in Saudi Arabia. Her message: "I am my own guardian."

In 2016, Saffaa's work resurfaced as woman in the kingdom began launching campaign after campaign fighting for their rights. It started with #StopEnslavingSaudiWomen to #TogetherToEndMaleGuardianship to #IAmMyOwnGuardian making the rounds on the Internet. 

On Oct. 16 a massive number of people began tweeting their support for Saffaa, as the day marked the 100th day since the hashtag was first created. 

Saudi sprinter Kariman Abuljadayel became the first woman from the kingdom to compete in the 100 meter race at the 2016 Olympic Games. 

Although Abuljadayel came in seventh in her preliminary heat, cutting her short of qualifying to the next round, she definitely made history. 

From international media coverage to ongoing support and praise on social media, Abuljadayel ran against more than just her competitors.

Abuljadayel is the first woman from the kingdom to compete in the 100 meter race. However, she is not the first female track athlete to take part in the Olympic Games. 

In 2012, Sarah Attar became the first female track athlete to represent Saudi Arabia when she competed in the the 800 meter race in London.

Saudi Prince Fahad al-Saud launched Saudi Girls Revolution (SGR), a video game and comic book depicting the rise of heroines and powerful Saudi girls in a post-apocalyptic world. 

In this world, Saudi girls ride motorcycles, fight mutants and have limitless gender freedoms. 

SGR wants to put a new face to women in the kingdom and the Arab world as a whole. Prince Fahad launched it hoping it would allow for an "intellectual revolution" in the perceptions that currently exist. 

"These young women symbolize female resilience and empowerment. They’re not constrained  by any religious or political status quo. Simply put, they create their own," the creators said.

Earlier this month, a music video of Saudi women skating, playing basketball, singing and dancing went viral. 

Titled "Hwages" translating to "concerns," the video has garnered over one million views since it was first posted on Dec. 23. 

Directed by Majed Alesa, the clip starts off with three women wearing the niqab, getting into a car with a young boy as the driver, criticizing the kingdom's ban on women driving. 

It then shows women in the kingdom breaking all kinds of stereotypes. They shoot some hoops, skateboard and showcase some epic dance moves.

"May all men be erased as they've hurt us psychologically," the women repeatedly say in the song's chorus.

Produced by Saudi production company 8ies Studios, the video is a remake of a low-quality video that surfaced in 2014. Both videos use the same lyrics.

In June, Mariam Saleh Binladen, a dentist from Saudi Arabia, became the first woman, and only the third person in recent history, to successfully swim 101 miles (162.5 km) of the Thames River in the United Kingdom. 

Aiming to inspire more women to participate in athletics and to raise awareness about the plight of Syrian refugees, Binladen completed the endurance swim over 10 days. 

She began the impressive feat on June 3 and completed the swim on June 12.

"I am thrilled and very proud to be the first woman to swim 101 miles of the Thames. I wanted to show that a young woman from Saudi Arabia can achieve a lifelong ambition, whilst at the same time raise awareness to bigger causes, particularly the plight of thousands of suffering Syrian orphan refugees," Binladen said, according to PR Newswire. 

Binladen has done her fair share of humanitarian work during the past year as well. She started the "Dr. Mariam Dental Clinic" in Jordan's Al Azraq camp - providing thousands of refugees (55,000 refugees reside in the camp) with free dental care. 

This is the first-of-its-kind facility in the region.