Haifaa Al Mansour is a Bahrain-based Saudi-born film director. She is the first Saudi female director to direct a full-length feature film. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Literature from the American University in Cairo and a Master’s degree in Directing and Film Studies from the University of Sydney. She directed three shorts, a documentary titled “Women Without Shadows” and the latest award-winning film “Wadjda.”
“Wadjda” is a sweet and easy story about a 10-year-old girl who just wants to ride her own bicycle, but it’s enjoying a much bigger achievement. “Wadjda” is a contender for best foreign film at the Oscars and Golden Globes and has a whopping 99 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. It is apparent that the world is ready to hear the personal stories of Saudi Arabia. “Wadjda” is a film that doesn’t protest and shout, unlike other Arabic films that have gained international attention. Not since Nadine Labaki’s 2007 “Caramel” has a celebrated Arabic film portrayed the region’s people in a humanizing everyday life kind of way. Al Mansour says she wanted to make “people laugh and maybe cry a little.” The first feature-length Saudi film directed by a Saudi woman is groundbreaking because it does not intend to provoke, but instead express relatable struggles and personal triumphs. The following are excerpts of Destination’s interview with Al Mansour: ON THE WORLD’S REACTION
ON HER CINEMATIC STYLE
Among all of the various challenges of developing the first film ever shot in Saudi Arabia, my biggest fear was that outside audiences would have a hard time relating to this foreign and hidden world that I come from. So for me there is nothing more rewarding than to see people all around the world reacting positively to the film and finding points of commonality in the story.
I really look for films that are true to where they come from and try as much as possible to capture the spirit of the place they represent. Visually I am drawn to films that have a neo-realistic, almost documentary feel. I like to feel as if I have found a window into a previously unknown world through a film. In Saudi Arabia a lot of artists practice selfcensorship, and try to play it safe, not knowing that making any type of art is putting out an opinion -- an idea. Even the most basic art forms somehow talk about the world and a person’s search for a place within it. If your goal is solely entertainment, your work will still have a perspective, full of comments and opinions. Not only in Saudi Arabia, but in the entire Gulf region you see that people are reluctant to form an individual opinion. These are tribal societies where individuality is vilified, where groupthink is seen as a positive part of the culture. So stepping out of that can be a painful, scary process, but ultimately extremely rewarding and beneficial to the society’s development.
Of course, I have been really excited to see people’s reactions inside the Kingdom to the film. We showed the film through a number of different embassies in the Kingdom, and we premiered the film in the region at the Dubai International Film Festival. I was so happy to see Saudis turn up at screenings and festivals all around the world. One Saudi student told me at a screening, “Now I know how Americans feel when they watch an American film at the theater.” That really made me proud and emotional!
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