Little White Lies - 03.2020 - 04.2020

The Saudi Arabian

iconoclast details

the tribulations of

making The Perfect

Candidate.

s the first female film director from Saudi

Arabia, Haifaa Al Mansour’s career has

been built on breaking barriers. Her

early, quietly radical documentaries about the

women behind enforced veils, led to her entering

the global stage with Wadjda, about a young

girl determined to ride a bicycle and, like her

creator, overcomes the obstacles of restrictive

gender roles to reach her goal. Her new film,

The Perfect Candidate, is a story of sisterhood

and stubbornness in Saudi Arabia as Maryam,

a country doctor, runs for municipal candidacy,

spurred by a determination not to be silenced.

LWLies: How did you come up with the

concept: the female doctor running for local

government? Al Mansour: Saudi Arabia is going

through a transformation. We are rebuilding

institutions. Women were only allowed to be

doctors, nurses or teachers and the rest was

limited because the society was segregated. The

Arab world isn’t used to female politicians but it

is so important to be represented in office. The

public will not vote for a woman but I wanted

to show that we have to put ourselves out there,

be a part of the conversation, and eventually we

will get there. These collective experiences will

shape the perception of women in the public

conscience. My youngest sister is a doctor, and

the next eldest is the life of the party, so I based

Maryam and her sisters a lot on them.

In Mary Shelley, there’s the legend of a

subversive mother, much like the doctor,

Maryam’s, mother, a wedding singer who

followed her dreams despite the gossip. Was

that passion something you saw in your own

upbringing? Absolutely, though our society was

very conservative, my mother was strong. She

didn’t adhere to the way women should be and

wore a thinner veil than was culturally accepted.

As a kid in public school, I was really embarrassed

but it taught me what defiance is and how to shape

your own values. It’s very hard coming from a place

like Saudi, we’re very tribal and individuality is not

cultivated or celebrated. It made me appreciate the

space my parents allowed for me.

The story spends a lot of time in the female-

dominated world of wedding singers. Where

did that fascination arise from? Entertainers

in general in Saudi Arabia are not particularly

valued. The conservative Islamist ideology

is all about excluding art from the public

space. Women with very limited economical

means turn to such professions, but I feel it

is very freeing and it shows a lot of resilience.

I grew up in a small town where there was no

entertainment besides weddings. It’s one of the

few places where you’d have a large group of

women being themselves and having fun.

You’ve talked in interviews about a ‘softer’

approach to feminism in art. Could you

elaborate? Where I come from there’s a lot of

lines you have to be careful not to cross to get

your film screened. But it’s important to work

within this limited artistic space and make

it bigger. I want to be heard back home and

it’s important to bring a story that speaks to

me and the people around me. It can be hard

to introduce liberal ideas and the society is

sceptical of a woman making films, so I like to

bring people on my side, rather than clash with

them and be aggressive with my storytelling.

A decade after having to direct Wadjda from

inside a van, was filming The Perfect Candidate

easier? This time we had more legitimacy so

I didn’t have to be in the van. There was a very

conservative person who called the police because

they didn’t want us to film in their neighbourhood,

but we showed our permit, and the paperwork

meant we couldn’t be stopped. But still there is

room to grow, and eventually people will feel safe

to film on the streets without feeling harassed.

How do you want your viewers to take the film?

I strive to tell universal stories with a humour

that will translate. I hope Western viewers can

go beyond political conversation about oil and

conflict and see the people, how they eat and think.

It’s amazing to shape art in the Kingdom and

make meaningful films outside the mainstream

to help expand our empathy. The industry is only

just beginning and distribution is still quite small

so we don’t know how people will take the film but

I think locals will come to see it because they

know me

INTERVIEW 073

IN CONVERSATION Interview by FATIMA SHERIFF Illustration by MARINA ESMERALDO

Haifaa Al Mansour

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