Another View 2013 / Wadjda / Saudi Arabia, Germany 2012
Young Wadjda dreams of owning a green bicycle. But she’ll have to forget about racing a boy from the neighborhood: the law prohibits girls from riding bikes. After hearing about the prize money for winning a school contest in Koran recitation, Wadjda decides to earn the cash to fulfill her dream herself, and she thus becomes a model of piety.… With a nod to Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, Saudi Arabia’s first female director, Haifaa al Mansour, debuts with a low-key meditation on freedom in an unfree world.
Ten-year-old Wadjda is growing up in the suburbs of Riyadh. She dreams of buying the pretty green bicycle she saw at a local store. But of course she’ll have to forget about racing her neighborhood friend Abdullah: it’s against the law for girls to ride bikes. After Wadjda finds little sympathy from her mother, she decides to earn the money for the bike herself. A contest is to be held at her school in Koran recitation and, after finding out about the prize money, Wadjda becomes a model of piety.… In her debut feature, director Haifaa al Mansour evokes the world of such movies as Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, as well as Offside by Jafar Panahi. This outwardly unassuming tale defies simplification, but the girl’s dream becomes its primary focus – how simple things can become grievously distorted by cultural stereotypes associated with women’s traditional roles in religious society. Indeed, artful Wadjda’s most critical opponent is a woman, her teacher Hussa.
93 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Haifaa al Mansour
/ Screenplay Haifaa al Mansour
/ Dir. of Photography Lutz Reitemeier
/ Music Max Richter
/ Editor Andreas Wodraschke
/ Producer Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner
/ Production Razor Film
/ Cast Reem Abdullah, Waad Mohammed, Abdullrahman Al Gohani, Ahd, Sultan Al Assaf
/ Contact The Match Factory
Haifaa al Mansour (b. 1974) is the first female director in Saudi Arabia and currently one of the most interesting filmmakers in the region. She graduated in literature from American University in Cairo, and also took a degree in direction and film studies from the University of Sydney. She shot three successful shorts, and her award-winning documentary, Women Without Shadows (2005), gained ardent followers and provoked a lively media discussion. In her feature debut Wadjda she continues to take up taboo topics such as women’s restricted freedom in the Arab world and the dangers associated with a lack of tolerance.
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