With: Reem Abdullah (mother), Abdulirahman Algohani (Abdullah), Waad Mohammed (Wadjda), Ahd (Ms Hussa), Sultan Al Assaf (father), Alanoud Sajini (Fatin), Rafa Al Sanea (Fatima), Dana Abdullilah (Salma), Rehab Ahmed (Noura), Nouf Saad (Koran teacher), Noura Faisal (Abeer)
Director/Screenplay: Haifaa Al-Mansour
Producers: Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner
Production co: Razor Film, High Look Group, Rotana Studios
Photography: Lutz Reitemeier
Editor: Andreas Wodraschke
Music: Max Richter
REVIEWS

“From the opening shot of the heroine’s Chuck Taylors poking out from under her school uniform, we are totally on side with the sassy ten-year old Wadjda (Waad Mohammed).  Set in Riyadh, Wadjda is not only the first full-length film to be entirely shot in Saudi Arabia, but also the first feature directed anywhere by a Saudi woman, Haifaa Al Mansour. In a country where women are not allowed to vote or drive, and cinema itself is banned, it’s already a surprising achievement. Even better, it is as smart and funny as its young heroine, scoring its satiric points with a light hand, while never leaving us in any doubt that public life for a Saudi woman is seriously limited. 

With her gorgeous teacher-mother restlessly toeing the line and hopelessly pining for her errant husband, the incredulous Wadjda invents her own one-girl stand for girl power. Her chief goal is to beat her male neighbour (and number one fan) in a bicycle race, even if it means feigning piety to win the price of a bike in a Koran recital competition.”

— Bill Gosden, NZIFF 2013.

"Al Mansour reveals in the film’s production notes that she often had to direct from her production van via walkie-talkie… but Wadjda offers the hope that for the next generation of Saudi women, things might be different. Modest as it may look, this is boundary-pushing cinema in all the best ways, and what a thrill it is to hear those boundaries creak.”

— Robbie Collin, Telegraph
FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Canterbury                               
Monday, 29 February, 7.45pm
 
Dunedin                                   
Wednesday, 9 March, 7.30pm
 
Tauranga                                  
Wednesday, 23 March, 6.15pm
 
Auckland                                  
Monday, 4 April, 6.30pm
 
New Plymouth                          
Wednesday, 25 May, 6.30pm
 
Palmerston North                      
Wednesday, 8 June, 6.00pm
 
Waitati                                     
Tuesday, 5 July, 8.00pm
 
Hamilton                                  
Monday, 1 August, 8.00pm
 
Carterton                                  
Sunday, 4 September, 8.00pm
 
Whanganui                               
Monday, 19 September, 7.00pm
 
Queenstown                             
Tuesday, 27 September, 8.30pm
 
West Melton & Districts             
Thursday, 6 October, 7.45pm
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