Haifaa al-mansour biography definition

She is one of the country's best-known and one of the first female Saudi filmmakers. Haifaa is the eighth out of twelve children of the poet Abdul Rahman Mansour, who introduced her to films by video, there being no movie theaters in Saudi Arabia between and One of her favorite actors was Jackie Chan. She is from Al Zulfi but grew up in Al-Hasa.

Haifaa Al-Mansour.

Although her town was conservative, her father would go to a Blockbuster and grab any films that were available and bring them back home for their large family to enjoy together. Although she grew up in a liberal family with non-traditional parents, her mother still had expectations for Haifaa to have a prestigious career. Her mother really wanted her to become a doctor, but that did not work out for Haifaa.

She also tried becoming an engineer, but that also did not happen.

Haifaa al-Mansour (Arabic: هيفاء المنصور Hayfā'a al-Manṣūr; born 10 August ) is a Saudi Arabian film director.

With her father's encouragement, she studied comparative literature at The American University in Cairo. After school, Haifaa worked at an oil company and taught English, she later completed a master's degree in Film Studies from University of Sydney, Australia. She began her filmmaking career with three shorts, Who? It was shown at 17 international festivals.

Her feature debut, Wadjda , which she wrote as well as directed, made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival; it is the first full-length feature to be shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and as of , the only feature-length film made in Saudi Arabia by a female director. Wadjda tells the story of a year-old girl growing up in the suburbs of Riyadh, who dreams of owning and riding a green bicycle.

Wadjda took five years to be made because of the typical constraints and challenges Haifaa went through to have the film released. The segregation of men and women in Saudi Arabia forced her to direct it in a small van with only a monitor and a walkie-talkie to communicate orders. Al-Mansour stated it was a very difficult and frustrating experience, but the most important thing to her was that she was the first female Saudi Arabian filmmaker who created the first feature film, fully filmed in Saudi Arabia.