Haifaa Al Mansour continues to pioneer
Haifaa Al Mansour – the first female filmmaker from Saudi Arabia – is a force to be reckoned with. Despite criticism, she tells us why it’s crucial to march to the beat of her own drum.
How did you make the choice to pursue this career? I started to make short films, just as a hobby or as a kind of therapy, to deal with the frustrations I faced as a woman in Saudi Arabia. Making films for me was a place to find freedom, to liberate myself from the constraints of my conservative culture and connect with the bigger world. And I have loved film since I was little. As a working woman in Saudi Arabia I felt invisible, like I had no voice. I was sick of being ignored but then I found a voice in film.
What made you sure this is the right path for you? Filmmaking was just a hobby for a long time, more than anything else, but it gave me such satisfaction in the art of creation. And I started submitting my work to all the regional film festivals and I was shocked that one actually invited me. They were the ones that said: “Did you know you are the first female filmmaker from Saudi Arabia?” That was really something to hear, and such a motivator for me to keep going in the field.
What kind of push back did you experience from society? There were quite a few people who opposed my work at the beginning. Unlike a lot of Saudi girls, I was very lucky to have the support of my parents. Instead of trying to control me, my father told me to believe in myself and never let anyone limit my belief of what I can achieve. He never listened to anyone or compromised when it came to his daughters' freedom. He used to get letters from our extended family, his friends, his colleagues and the Imam of the mosque in front of our house asking him to get me under control and put a stop to my career as a filmmaker. But he was so proud and never cared. I feel really blessed that my father was not only liberal and encouraged me to follow my dreams, but that my mother was such a strong person and didn't care about what other people thought. Most Saudis have this real, legitimate fear of being labelled as “different” or outside of the system, but my mother and father didn't care. Has there been a time where you wanted to break from
your culture? I see my culture as an integral part of my work and could never separate myself from it. Of course it was incredibly difficult to make a film in 2011, and people were still very hesitant to embrace any public form of artistic expression, but the culture is really the heart of the story. For me, telling stories from the unique place that I am from is very rewarding. Of course now a lot of the restrictions on art have been relaxed and everything is different, and we have cinemas going up all across the Kingdom, but the larger issue of a lack of infrastructure in the film industry remains. We have a lot of work to do in building up the tools and resources necessary to make quality films. We don't have many people with experience in the field yet so putting together a crew and getting the right equipment is very difficult. Getting the proper training and education necessary to help craft and shape our stories is another key area that we need to develop.
What has been the most difficult hardship you've faced in your career? I have faced a lot of challenges throughout my career, like losing financing for films or having to direct from a van because of gender segregation, but I don't like to think about the barriers or limitations I face. I always strive to create opportunities for myself wherever I can. If I had sat back and looked at all of the limitations I faced it would have been easy to become discouraged or just give up. It is amazing that there are so many new avenues for Saudi filmmakers to create and showcase their work, but it is still an incredibly challenging and difficult career path to embark upon. It is important to set goals to ensure that you build upon each success and opportunity so you keep up your momentum.
Which one of your movies relates to you the most? The Perfect Candidate is one of my most personal films. The themes of the story are very close to my own experiences, and that of my family, and it is influenced a lot by things that we went through. I really wanted to tell a story about a culturally conservative, traditional woman who decides to embrace the changes happening now and go out there and seize the moment. The reality of her journey is that it will be difficult, and lots of people will be critical of her choices, but it will ultimately open up a whole new world for her. I want to stress to the women of Saudi Arabia how important it is to go out there and take a chance, even if you don't have any experience in doing so. It is still hard for Saudi women to put themselves out there, and they are nervous about doing things they haven't done before like driving, travelling or uncovering their faces.
I also wanted to take a moment to celebrate the strong artistic and cultural legacy of Saudi Arabia and tell a story that stresses how important it is that we build upon those traditions as the foundation for our society's development. So much our music, theatre, stories, and all forms of artistic expression were almost erased from our culture entirely, so I felt like we needed a story that reminded people of the strong artistic traditions we have, and how they can help us as we move forward into an exciting future.
How do you make sure the message you want to transmit in your movies translate clearly in people's minds? I always focus first on making an entertaining film. For my latest film I wanted to make a film that could be special to Saudis, and make the medium itself seem more accessible, while still presenting a window to our world to international audiences. As the scripts develop I constantly try to look at it from the outside, to the universal themes that it speaks to. I don't want to give foreign audiences the false impression that it would be an easy or acceptable thing for a Saudi woman to run for office or a girl to ride a bike around Riyadh, so it is hard not to want to put in a bleaker end to their journeys. But I think the positive aspects of the films help audiences relate to the stories more and ultimately enjoy watching the films.
It is hard to be a woman in Saudi Arabia and I want the world to know how strong the women are in my country. They are survivors.
“I really wanted to tell a story about a culturally conservative, traditional woman who decides to embrace the changes happening now and go out there and seize the moment”
Who are your cinematic influences? Who would you say is your favourite female director? Jane Campion's The Piano is one of my favourite films. I was lucky to get to spend some time studying it in graduate school and I think about it quite often when I craft my own work. It is a masterpiece, and there is so much you can get out of it on multiple viewings
If you could go back to your younger self, what would you tell her?
Don't focus on the things holding you back. It is so easy to look at all of the people, customs, ideas or prejudices working against you. You have to tune that out and just focus on the things you need to do to reach your goal. As a woman there will always be people questioning your authority, doubting your ability, and hesitant to believe in your vision or ideas. All you can do is go out there and work hard and prove them wrong.
What are you working on next? I'm developing an animated film called Miss Camel, about a camel that wants to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant. It is a fun story that examines the perceptions women have of themselves in the Kingdom and the ways they form their aspirations. I hope to continue making as many movies as I can in Saudi Arabia. It is such a ripe environment for drama, and there are so many untold stories yet to be told. The interplay between tradition and modernity creates just the right amount of tension for great stories.