ZAGREB FILM FESTIVAL
14.-21.10.2012.
Wadjda
Haifaa Al Mansour, Saudi Arabia, Germany, 2012.
Directed by: Haifaa Al Mansour
Script: Haifaa Al Mansour
Producer: Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner
Production company: Razor Film
Cinematography: Lutz Reitemeier
Editing: Andreas Wodraschke
Music: Max Richter
Cast: Reem Abdullah, Waad Mohammed, Abdullrahman Al Gohani
Format: DCP
Running time: 97'

Synopsis
Wadjda is a 10-year-old girl living in a suburb of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Although she lives in a conservative world, Wadjda is fun loving, entrepreneurial and always pushing the boundaries of what she can get away with. After a fight with her friend Abdullah, a neighborhood boy she shouldn’t be playing with, Wadjda sees a beautiful green bicycle for sale. She wants the bicycle desperately so that she can beat Abdullah in a race. But Wadjda’s mother won’t allow it, fearing repercussions from a society that sees bicycles as dangerous to a girl’s virtue. So Wadjda decides to try and raise the money herself.

Awards and Festivals
Venice Film Festival 2012 - CICAE - Cinema d’Arte e d’Essai Award, CinemAvvenire Award, Interfilm Award for Promoting Interreligious Dialogue

Directors Biography
Haifaa Al Mansour is the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia and is regarded as one of the most significant cinematic figures in the Kingdom. She finished her bachelor’s degree in Literature at the American University in Cairo and completed a Master’s degree in Directing and Film Studies from the University of Sydney. The success of her three short films, as well as the international acclaim of her award-winning 2005 documentary Women Without Shadows, influenced a whole new wave of Saudi filmmakers and made the issue of opening cinemas in the Kingdom a front-page discussion. Within the Kingdom her work is both praised and vilified for encouraging discussion on topics generally considered taboo, like tolerance, the dangers of orthodoxy, and the need for Saudis to take a critical look at their traditional and restrictive culture. Wadjda is her first feature film.

Location and screening schedule:
TUŠKANAC CINEMA, Thursday, October 18th at 10.30
EUROPA CINEMA, Thursday, October 18th at 19.30
EUROPA CINEMA, Friday, October 19th at 15.00
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