Haifaa Al Mansour directed her debut feature while communicating through walkie-talkies. In a new interview with Deadline Hollywood, the Saudi director discusses what it was like being the Kingdom's first female feature filmmaker.
When Al Mansour directed Wadjda, gender segregation laws prevented her from being in the same room as her cast and crew. "The country was segregated, so I wasn't able to be with the actors," she explains. "That was very limiting." She directed the feature film while separated from the people she was supposed to be directing.
Yet Al Mansour completed the film and made cinematic history. She is now witnessing significant changes in Saudi Arabian cinema, particularly for women filmmakers. The director discusses the new possibilities available to the next generation—women who no longer face the same barriers she encountered.
Her persistence opened a path for female filmmakers to work on set alongside actors and direct in real time. Al Mansour's journey from segregated sets to championing a new wave of Saudi women filmmakers demonstrates how one artist's determination reshaped an entire industry.
