Film notes and reviews » 2013/14 Season » Wadjda, March 2014

Wadjda, March 2014

Wadjda showing Sunday 2nd March 2014 at the Cranleigh Film ClubSaudi Arabia 2012. Director Haifaa al- Mansour.

Certificate PG

The first film by a woman director from Saudi Arabia, which was made in secret as men and women cannot be seen to be working together in the street in Saudi Arabia. She often directed from inside a van to be able to shoot unimpeded.

The story about a girl entering a Qur’an reading competition to earn prize money for a bike to be able to join a race with boys, is enjoyable and revealing. The film was bankrolled by German money and overseen by the producers of Waltz with Bashir. The film was admired at the Venice film festival and snapped up by international distributors.

It will not be shown in Saudi Arabia, but there are signs that its message is having an influence on Saudi women via smuggled dvds.

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