Haifaa al-Mansour

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Haifaa al-Mansour (Arabic: هيفاء المنصور‎, b. 1974) is a film director from Saudi Arabia. She is one of the country's best-known and most controversial directors.^[1]

She is the son of the poet Abdul Rahman Mansour, who introduced her to films by video, there being no movie theaters in Saudi Arabia.^[2] With his encouragement, she studied comparative literature at the American University in Cairo. ^[2]

She began her filmmaking career with three shorts, Who?, The Bitter Journey, and The Only Way Out. The Only Way Out won prizes in the United Arab Emirates and in Holland.^[3] She followed these with the documentary Women Without Shadows, which deals with the hidden lives of women of the Persian Gulf. It was shown in 17 international festivals, and received the Golden Dagger for Best Documentary in the Muscat Film Festival and a special jury mention in the fourth Arab Film Festival in Rotterdam. She was a guest at the 28th Three Continents Festival in Nantes, France.^[1]

She didn’t intend that her film work focus on women’s issues, but found them too important to not address. Both Who? and Women Without Shadows deal with the custom of abaya. She has received hate mail and criticism for being unreligious, which she denies. She does, however, feel that Saudi Arabia needs to take a more critical view of its culture.^[2] She has also received praise from Saudis for encouraging discussion on topics usually considered taboo.^[3]