The Scene Club Film Screening - Wadjda
The Scene Club will screen one of my favourite films this month, Wadjda by Haifaa Al Mansour on Tuesday, 8th April 2014. In my opinion, it's the best film from the Gulf region we've seen for a long time. If you've not heard about it or seen it before, this is your chance.
Wadjda is the first full length feature film that was filmed entirely inside Saudi Arabia with an all Saudi cast and is the first feature-length film made by a female Saudi director. It will be screened on Tuesday, 8th April at 8pm. Tickets are complimentary, but you must register in advance and collect your ticket at the venue.
It is a beautiful and very touching film, so spread the word and don't miss this.
Wadjda is a 10-year-old girl living in a suburb of Riyadh. 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 neighbourhood 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.
At first, Wadjda’s mother is too preoccupied with convincing her husband not to take a second wife to realize what’s going on. And soon enough Wadjda’s plans are thwarted when she is caught running various schemes at school. Just as she is losing hope of raising enough money, she hears of a cash prize for a Koran recitation competition at her school. She devotes herself to the memorization and recitation of Koranic verses and her teachers begin to see Wadjda as a model pious girl. The competition isn‘t going to be easy, especially for a troublemaker like Wadjda, but she refuses to give in. She is determined to continue fighting for her dreams.
Wadjda has won numerous awards at film festivals around the world, including Venice, Rotterdam, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Goteborg and Fribourg and has received a myriad of nominations, including for the 2014 BAFTA Awards. The film was selected as the Saudi Arabian entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2014 Academy Awards and it was the first time that Saudi Arabia submitted a film for the Oscar.
Event details
Date: Tuesday, 8th April 2014
Time: 7.00pm – Ticket Collection and Networking | 8.00pm – Film screening
Venue: Knowledge Village Auditorium, Dubai (location map)