Page - 85 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 02/01

Activist Citizenship, Film and Peacebuilding | 85www.jrfm.eu 2016, 2/1, 73–89 and who asks another woman to fulfil what seems to be one of her main duties, to provide a male heir for the family. In many ways, al-Mansour’s film “calls the laws into question”,61 in terms of the right of women not just to perform usual tasks as do men, such as work or drive, but also to live as equals, freed from their exclusion and segregation. However, al-Mansour does not victimise women of Saudi society,62 but instead cleverly reveals that patriarchal rules are often backed by women themselves: through the character of the strict schoolteacher, she shows that women can be the ones who (re)enforce these rules and support them. In a similar manner, she does not question Islam per se; Islam is not necessarily in conflict with the feminist perspective on gender equality and freedom, as we can see in the scenes when Wadjda prays with her mother.63 The girl, Wadjda, is resisting the pressure of a male-dominant, patriarchal society from within, by pushing at boundaries in order to change established norms and patri- archal rules on a micro level, just as al-Mansour is doing with her film. The first female director from Saudi Arabia, al-Mansour had to study abroad because the country does not have an academic programme in film studies. She managed to get approval for the filming of Wadjda, but as it was being shot she had to direct parts of the film from a van, to avoid possible protests for breaking the law and mixing with men in a public space. She also followed censorship guidance and did not shoot scenes showing a woman and a man sitting together on a sofa for instance. 61 Isin/Nielsen 2008. 62 See Shabi 2013. 63 See Shabi 2013. Fig 3: Wadjda’s dream finally came true (WADJDA, Haifaa al-Mansour, SA/D 2013)