Review from Venice film festival

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/aug/31/venice-film-female-director -saudi-prejudice?intcmp=ILCMUSTXT9385
Text of review:

Haifaa al-Mansour, right, and Waad Mohammed, star of Wadjda, pose with a bicycle on the red carpet for the film's premiere at the Venice film festival. Photograph: Max Rossi/Reuters
As the first Saudi Arabian woman to direct a feature film, Haifaa al-Mansour is either a pioneer or a pariah, depending on your point of view or what side of the street you live on. In some areas of her native Riyadh, she felt able to shoot unimpeded. In others she was forced to hide in a production van, directing her male crew members via walkie-talkie for fear of sparking protests.

"Saudi Arabia is a very traditional, conservative and tribal society," she explained as her finished film, Wadjda, debuted to warm applause at the Venice film festival. "Men and women cannot be on the streets together, particularly if the woman is seen to be directing the men. People would come and tell us to stop filming. It was a challenging experience, to say the least."

Bankrolled by German money and overseen by the producers of Paradise Now and Waltz With Bashir, Mansour's film lifts the lid on the role of women in Saudi society. The title character is a rebellious 11-year-old girl who enters a local Qur'an-reading competition, planning to use the prize money to buy herself a bicycle.

Wadjda hurries through the dusty streets, scandalising the faithful with her Chuck Taylor trainers and indigo laces. She wants to race the boys and prove she's the best. Her mother, however, is horrified. "Girls don't ride bikes," she says. "You won't be able to have a child if you ride bikes."

Mansour admits that the film was inspired, in part, by her own early years. "I wanted to make a film that was close to my world," she said. "I was fortunate enough to be raised by liberal parents who gave me and my siblings plenty of space to be creative.

"Many of my schoolfriends were not so lucky. They had so much potential but no opportunity. I suppose I wanted to make a film that would inspire them."

Wadjda is both a heartfelt coming-of-age story and a damning critique of Saudi culture, with a plot that pivots between a repressive school and a troubled home.

Wadjda's father claims to love his wife, but is nonetheless off scouting a second wife who might bear him a son. Inside the school grounds, the girls are forbidden from touching the Qur'an if they are having their period and are summarily banned from laughing in the yard. "Do you not remember?" the teacher scolds them. "A woman's voice is her nakedness."

It remains to be seen whether making the film will leave Mansour similarly exposed. She admits that she is viewed back home as a "polarising figure", but insists that the country is on the brink of change. "Yes, Saudi Arabia is a difficult place for women. But it's all too easy to say that and accept that women should simply stay at home. We need to move beyond that way of thinking.

"Women have to stick together and believe in themselves and push towards what makes them happy. We just need to push a little bit harder against tradition. We need to do things and make things and tell the stories that we want to tell. And I think the world is ready to listen."

Early evidence supports her view. Mansour's film has already been snapped up for distribution in Germany, Switzerland and France, with further purchases expected in Venice this week. The one place where it is unlikely to play is in Saudi Arabia itself: the kingdom currently does not contain a single movie theatre. "Cinema is illegal in Saudi Arabia," Mansour explains. "We are hoping this will change."

Why problem make? When you no problem have, you don't want to make ...