Author: Haifaa al-Mansour / Political Geography: Arabia

Author:: Haifaa al-Mansour
Publication Date:: 03-2014
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: World Policy Journal
Institution:: World Policy Institute
Abstract:: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Developing Wadjda, the first full-length feature film ever shot entirely inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and directed by a woman, posed some wholly unique challenges that come with making a film in a country where cinema is illegal, public displays of art are vilified, women are marginalized, gender segregation is strictly enforced, and tribal and fundamentalist groups stand resolutely against anything they feel threatens their values.
Political Geography:: Arabia

Author:: David Eggers, Mamdouh al-Harthy, Hasan Hatrash, and Haifaa al-Mansour
Publication Date:: 03-2013
Content Type:: Journal Article
Journal:: World Policy Journal
Institution:: World Policy Institute
Abstract:: Last year, the San Francisco-based author Dave Eggers published his book, A Hologram for the King, a vision of Saudi Arabia where the Western world of holograms and the Internet comes up against the hard realities of today's Saudi Arabia. Eggers, whose novel was nominated for a National Book Award, spent weeks in the Kingdom researching, meeting an extraordinary Saudi film - maker whose first feature, Wadjda, premiered at the Venice Film Festival to considerable acclaim, and two Saudis who inspired key characters. World Policy Journal assembled Haifaa al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia's first female film director; Mamdouh al-Harthy, a brilliant journalist and documentary producer, cast in Hologram as a driver who leads the narrator into the depths of the Saudi mind and spirit; and Hasan Hatrash, journalist, filmmaker, and musician, with a similar role in the novel, who in real life produced the Portfolio in the Winter 2012- 2013 issue of World Policy Journal. Eggers served as the moderator for this 90-minute roundtable discussion on art, freedom, and politics in Saudi Arabia and the post-Arab Spring Middle East.
Political Geography:: Arabia and Saudi Arabia

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