Ruba Nadda (born 6 December 1972) is a Canadian film director. She made several award-winning short films, including ''Lost Woman Story'', ''Interstate Love Story'', ''So Far Gone'' and ''Damascus Nights'' before writing and directing features ''I Always Come to You'', ''Unsettled'' and ''

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

''. Her movie ''

Cairo Time ''Cairo Time'' is a 2009 film by Canadian director Ruba Nadda. It is a romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love interest that catches two people completely off-guard. The film won the award for Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Internation ...

'' won the Best Canadian Feature Film award at the 2009

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

and was Best Reviewed Romance on Rotten Tomatoes for 2010. She is known for shooting feature films in very short time spans.

Early life and education

Nadda was born to a

Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...

father and a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

mother. Nadda studied literature at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. She went on to study Film Production at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the a ...

and completed a six-week course there.

Directing career

Nadda made her feature film debut with ''

'' starring actress Arsinée Khanjian in the title role. Her next film ''

'', starring

Patricia Clarkson Patricia Davies Clarkson (born December 29, 1959) is an American actress. She has starred in numerous leading and supporting roles in a variety of films ranging from independent film features to major film studio productions. Her accolades incl ...

and

Alexander Siddig Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abdurrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi (born 21 November 1965) is a Sudanese-born English actor and director known professionally as Siddig El Fadil and subsequently as Alexander Siddig. Siddig i ...

, was released in 2009 and won Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2009

. In 2012 Nadda reunited with her ''Cairo Time'' star Siddig to film '' Inescapable'', a thriller which also featured

Marisa Tomei Marisa Tomei ( , ; born December 4, 1964) is an American actress. She came to prominence as a cast member on ''The Cosby Show'' spin-off ''A Different World'' in 1987. After having minor roles in a few films, she came to international attention ...

and

Joshua Jackson Joshua Carter Jackson (born June 11, 1978) is a Canadian-American actor. He is known for his starring role as Charlie Conway in '' Mighty Ducks'', as Pacey Witter in The WB teen drama series ''Dawson's Creek'' (1998–2003), Peter Bishop in the ...

. Nadda released her next film ''

October Gale This article encompasses the 1840–1849 Atlantic hurricane seasons. While data is not available for every storm that occurred, some parts of the coastline were populated enough to give data of hurricane occurrences. Each season was an ongoing eve ...

'' in 2014. The film, a thriller set in

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

, would reunite her with her ''Cairo Time'' star Patricia Clarkson. The film premiered at the

2014 Toronto International Film Festival The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...

. In September 2014 Nadda announced that she would be reuniting with

on a TV series for

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

titled ''Elisabeth''.

Personal life

In September 2014 Nadda announced that she was seven months pregnant.

Filmography

Films

*1997 ** ''Wet Heat Drifts Through the Afternoon'' ** ''Interstate Love Story'' ** ''Do Nothing'' *1998 ** ''The Wind Blows Towards Me Particularly'' ** ''So Far Gone'' ** ''Damascus Nights'' *1999 ** ''Slut'' ** ''Laila'' *2000 ** ''I Always Come to You'' ** ''Blue Turning Grey Over You'' ** ''Black September'' ** ''I Would Suffer Cold Hands for You'' *2001 ** ''Unsettled'' *2004 ** ''Aadan'' *2005 ** ''

'' *2009 ** ''

'' *2012 ** '' Inescapable'' *2015 ** ''

Television

*2016-2017 **''

Killjoys ''Killjoys'' is a Canadian space adventure drama series that aired on Space (now CTV Sci-Fi) in Canada. Primarily a science fiction series, ''Killjoys'' follows a trio of hard-living bounty hunters—Dutch (Hannah John-Kamen), Johnny (Aaron As ...

'' *2016 ** ''

This Life This may refer to: * ''This'', the singular proximal demonstrative pronoun Places * This, or ''Thinis'', an ancient city in Upper Egypt * This, Ardennes, a commune in France People with the surname * Hervé This, French culinary chemist Arts, e ...

'' *2017-2018 ** '' NCIS: Los Angeles'' *2017-2019 ** ''

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'' *2017 ** ''

Valor Valor, valour, or valorous may mean: * Courage, a similar meaning * Virtue ethics, roughly "courage in defense of a noble cause" Entertainment * Valor (band), a Christian gospel music group * Valor Kand, a member of the band Christian Death * ' ...

'' *2018 **''

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'' **'' Taken'' *2019 **''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

'' **''

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'' **''

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'' **''

Krypton Krypton (from grc, κρυπτός, translit=kryptos 'the hidden one') is a chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas that occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere and is often ...

'' *2020 **'' Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector'' *2021 **''

Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick B ...

'' **''

Hudson & Rex ''Hudson & Rex'' is a Canadian police procedural drama television series, based on the Austrian-Italian drama ''Kommissar Rex''. It premiered on Citytv on March 25, 2019. Filming commenced in October 2018, with ongoing production in St. John's, N ...

'' (S3E3, ''Into the Wild'') *2022 **''

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

'' (S1E12, ''Let the Past Be Past'') **'' Riverdale'' (S6E13, ''Chapter One Hundred and Eight: Ex-Libris'') **''

Tom Swift Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. First published in 1910, the series totals more than 100 volumes. The character was ...

'' (S1E8, ''...And the Book of Isaac'') **''

Big Shot Big Shot may refer to: Fiction * Big Shot, an animated superhero character on the television show '' The Tick'' created by cartoonist Ben Edlund in 1986 * Big Shot, the former mascot of the Philadelphia 76ers until 1996 * ''Big Shot'', a fiction ...

'' (S2E4, ''17 Candles'') *2023 **'' Magnum P.I'' **'' Alaska Daily'' (S1E8, "Tell a Reporter Not to Do Something and Suddenly It's a Party")

Awards

*2009: Won Best Canadian Feature Film award at the 2009

for ''Cairo Time'' *2010: Best Reviewed Romance on Rotten Tomatoes for 2010 for ''Cairo Time''

References

External links

''Cairo Time'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nadda, Ruba 1972 births Canadian people of Palestinian descent Canadian people of Syrian descent Canadian people of Arab descent Canadian women film directors Film directors from Montreal Living people Tisch School of the Arts alumni York University alumni