IT
Miu Miu Women's Tales

#16 The Wedding Singer's Daughter

by Haifaa Al-Mansour
Italy, United States, 2018, 8', color, DCP
Sunday 02 September 2018
17:00 Sala Perla Tickets, All Accreditations
 

screenplay
Haifaa Al-Mansour
cinematography
Alar Kivilo
music
Jordan Satta

cast
Haylie Neimann
Adam Neimann
Rotana Tarabzouni

producer
Sara D'Alessio
productions
Anonymous Content
Hi Production
executive producers
SueEllen Clair
Max Brun

press office
Chiara Calzavara

It's nighttime in 1980s Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Glittery and glamorous heels climb out of cars. Women shrouded in traditional black abayas make their way into a wedding hall. There, they reveal what's underneath: dazzling dresses and wild hair. Their true selves set free, unseen by male gaze. There are strict segregation rules in Saudi weddings. All eyes and ears are on the wedding singer, until the electricity cuts out suddenly. "This is the worst wedding singer ever," guests mutter, condescendingly. Will the young daughter manage to save her mother's dignity?

 

Filmography

2018 The Wedding Singer's Daughter (short)
2017 Mary Shelley
2012 Wadjda (The Green Bicycle)
2005 Women Without Shadows (doc)
2001 Ana Wa Alakhar (short)

"Trying to build things up, step by step, is very important. Patience pays off. [...] Weddings are the actual mirror of society in Saudi Arabia: segregated, fragmented, along gender and class. I wanted to tell the story of those people, and capture that tenderness. [...] It's very important for women to tell their stories. And sometimes it's hard. [...] For me, the little girl represents the future, and the future belongs to outsiders."


Haifaa Al-Mansour is the first female director in Saudi Arabia and is considered one of the most prominent figures in film. She studied comparative literature at Cairo's American University and obtained a Master's Degree in film studies at the University of Sydney. After her first short film, Ana Wa Alakhar, in 2005 she made the documentary Women Without Shadows. In 2012 she made her first feature film, Wadjda, which was also the first work to be entirely filmed in Saudi Arabia by a female director. Screened at the Venice Film Festival, the film was widely acclaimed by the critics. Penguin published her book the Green Bicycle, based on Wadjda. In 2017 she directed Mary Shelley, starring Elle Fanning and Douglas Booth. She is currently working on the post-production of Nappily Ever After, starring Sanaa Lathan. Al-Mansour is the first artist from the Arabian Gulf region to have been invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.

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