Wednesday Night Southeast Asia Movie

October 7, 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Mānoa Campus, St. John Plant Science Lab Auditorium (basement) Add to Calendar

Wadjda
Saudi Arabia (2012, 98 min)
Arabic w/English subtitles

Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour
Screenplay: Haifaa Al-Mansour
Music: Max Richter, Yousif Al Ali (composer/performer)
Cinematography: Lutz Reitemeier
Cast: Reem Abdullah (Mother), Waad Mohammed (Wadjda), Abdullrahman Al Gohani (Abdullah), Ahd (Ms. Hussa), Sultan Al Assaf (Father)

Wadjda—the first full-length feature film to be made entirely in Saudi Arabia, and the first feature from the female director Haifaa Al-Mansour—turns a little girl’s quest to earn the money for her own bicycle into a poignant fable about growing up female (and growing up, period) in a place where women’s autonomy is severely restricted.

As simple as the story seems on the surface, there’s sharp social commentary embedded in every scene. This isn’t a fist-shaking feminist manifesto but a sympathetic portrait of a hidebound patriarchal culture in gradual transition to greater openness. Director Haifaa Al-Mansour gives us a stunningly assured debut, a slyly subversive delight, and one of my favorite movies of the year so far.

– Dana Stevens, Slate


Ticket Information
Free and open to the public

Event Sponsor
Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Mānoa Campus

More Information
(808) 956-2688, cseas@hawaii.edu, http://cseashawaii.org

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