In 2012, six years before Saudi Arabia’s cinema ban was lifted, Haifaa Al-Mansour made her directional debut with, Wadjda, the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia by the country’s first female director. Following the success of Wadjda, Al-Mansour moved from Bahrain to LA to make more boundary-breaking movies in Hollywood and for her latest release, The Perfect Candidate, the director returned to Saudi. Here, Al-Mansour talks to MOJEH about representing women in the Kingdom, inspiring the next generation of filmmakers and pushing Hollywood to evolve.
I do feel a responsibility to address the misconceptions that Western audiences have about Saudi women. They seem to have ideas and concepts about women in Saudi but don't know much about the day-to-day life of women in the Kingdom. They are tough and sassy, and the new generation has a whole new outlook and window to the world. They are empowered and motivated to improve their status within the society in ways my generation could never have imagined. They are survivors.
A big problem was casting, since we couldn’t have open casting calls in Saudi because of the sensitivities with women acting. It took a long time to find the lead actress for . Things are way better now, but there are still quite a few challenges as the industry is still in its infancy. We do casting agencies now but still have to depend on word of mouth, so finding talent is still not easy. Finding talent at all levels of production is also a challenge, so we still have to look abroad to fill in some of the gaps.
And it was really great to be out of the van! Being allowed to fully mix with my crew and be fully immersed in the production was amazing. It was also very exciting to have so many enthusiastic young Saudis working on the set. They are the future of the industry, and to see them giving their all to contribute and be a part of making the film was very special for me. We still have a long way to go in building our local crews and expertise, but the enthusiasm is there to build upon. It is an exciting time to be a filmmaker from Saudi Arabia.
I wanted to create a character that is very much representative of the mainstream mentality of Saudi women. She covers her face and follows the cultural norms of the society, but ends up pushing boundaries because she wants to do her job well. The restrictions that keep her from performing her work in the ways that would best benefit the society frustrate her and force her to think outside the box. She is not a rebel for the sake of rebellion, she is someone that knows that her work can make the country a better place and simply wants to remove the barriers that keep her from accomplishing her mission. I believe strongly that this is the way that true change comes to a society, through hard-working people who simply want to be able to reach their highest potential.
