A sensation: “The girl Wadjda” is the first film in Saudi Arabia. In the interview, the director Haifa Al-Mansur, the conditions under which they had to work, and explains why Saudi women enjoy freedom only as children.

I started to make films because I wanted to express myself. I did not want to be political or the first director, but I simply realize itself. By the particular circumstances of course it was a lot of work, the preparations took five years from the first idea – a girl on a bicycle in Saudi Arabia – to the rotation.

I had this image in my head a long time – the bike stands for modernity, the change, while the girl is my country and my hometown, the way I grew up, with all the traditions.

When I had finished the script, I sent e-mails to Western production companies, the Arab world cinema is not particularly open to such stories. In most Arab countries, although there is a mainstream film culture that comes mostly from Egypt, but they are very different films.

So I had to find a new market, and it was clear that this only works on co-production. In my many emails but no one answered. Finally, I got help from Writer’s Lab at the Sundance Institute, we hired a line producer from Saudi Arabia, which normally makes television, and we began to turn. And I found my German co-producers who have helped me extremely.

Surprisingly positive, because I’ve always tried not to see my film primarily as a critical exemption or prosecution history, but as a film that certainly appreciates and respects the culture of Saudi Arabia. I did not collide with the values ​​of my home, do not make it loud or obnoxious him. Hard it was nevertheless: The Saudis have many prejudices against movie because it just is no film culture there. Cinema is illegal.

That was the biggest problem to get Legal Permits to find locations. For this I was not allowed to appear on the road, I had to look hidden in a van on a monitor and give my instructions by walkie-talkie, also partially scream into the phone. This was difficult and frustrating, especially when we ran out of time. I was as caught up in this car.

Yes, but it was a good exercise! You have to concentrate hard to find the essence of the scenes, the actors verbally explain exactly what they need to do what the scenes mean. But my German producers have also helped me a lot.

Yes, but religion and polygamy are topics that will be discussed in my home perfectly. I have not broken any thematic determined barriers, rather perhaps in the way I imagine it for discussion. The consequences of this is to pull every self. I did not just say women in Saudi Arabia are sad because they are treated unfairly.

The mother of Wadjda is in my film may be sad, but also because she loves her husband and he hurt her emotionally. This is a universal theme. In Saudi Arabia heartache by polygamy may occur, but the feeling itself is global.

[adrotate banner=”46″]