Haifaa al-Mansour defied all odds as the first female Saudi Arabian director. Because of her country’s socio-political situation and her religion, she faced unique and difficult challenges in becoming a director.
Even though al-Mansour grew up in a family of twelve children, she still received the support and attention she needed in order to have the strength and will to succeed. Her family resided in a conservative town in Al-Hasa, where they received judgment from the people who didn’t understand her non-traditional parents. Al-Mansour’s parents encouraged their children to pursue their passions and raised them in a liberal environment.
While her mother wanted other career paths for al-Mansour, the young woman was pushed by her mother’s courage and her father’s encouragement in studying comparative literature at The American University in Cairo.
However, something still felt missing when she got her degree. Later on, al-Mansour completed her master’s degree in Film Studies from University of Sydney, Australia, which changed the course of her career.
Al-Mansour recognizes the advantage she had gotten from studying in her alma mater. Her career began with three short films: Who?, The Bitter Journey and The Only Way Out, the latter of which won prizes in the United Arab Emirates and in the Netherlands.
After the short films, she produced and directed the documentary Women Without Shadows, a controversial film which tackles the lives of women in Arab States of the Persian Gulf. The film received mixed reactions ranging from outrage to empathy. Al-Mansour stood by the documentary’s importance saying, “I’m not ashamed of my work. I’m trying to reach our society and that was the only venue I was offered.” A film successful as it is controversial – Women Without Shadows was shown at 17 international festivals and received awards such as the Golden Dagger for Best Documentary in the Muscat Film Festival and a special jury mention in the fourth Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam.
The challenges al-Mansour faced were not only after the release of the films but also during the production. For her feature debut, Wadjda, al-Mansour had to direct the entire film from a van with a walkie-talkie and a monitor because Saudi women are not allowed to work outside with men who aren’t family members.
Al-Mansour wrote and directed Wadjda and took 5 years to finish the film because of the various limitations. However, the Saudi director’s efforts have clearly been fruitful as this film became the first full-length feature shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and made its world premiere at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. The film was also selected as the Saudi Arabian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, which is the first time Saudi Arabia has submitted a film for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.
While she faces much hate and criticism for her works, al-Mansour believes in the importance of the discourse on women’s issues and liberties. She denies accusations that she is unreligious, and calls on the nation to have a different and more critical view of how women are perceived and treated.
Al-Mansour says that she does not want to preach through her films or show Saudi Arabia in a bad light, but rather invites her audience to join the discussion. She simply wants to create films from the lens of women so that we may understand their genuine struggles in Saudi Arabian society. All the while, al-Mansour portrays the beautiful relationships between women and how they overcome challenges together.
“No one will give you change. You have to work for it. You have to earn it not by screaming, but by working hard, by believing in yourself, by proving yourself. There are windows, but if you are radical, no one will talk to you. And that window will shut.” - Haifaa al-Mansour
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