Wadjda, the first-ever film shot in Saudi Arabia, hits the Cannes market as The Match Factory begins pre-sales at Cannes’ Marche du Film on the coming-of-age drama from Haiffa al Mansour, the first female Saudi filmmaker.
Haifaa wrote and directed Wadjda, which tells the ordinary but uplifting story of Wadjda, an 11-year-old girl growing up in the suburbs of Saudi capital city Riyadh. Wadjda’s dream is to get and ride a green bicycle, a treasure forbidden to women in the restrictive Islamist state.
