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The streets of Herat, Afghanistan, are paved not with gold but with scrolling code in the spirited drama “Rule Breakers.” Teacher and startup owner Roya Mahboob believes in the transformative possibilities of computers. Portrayed with a mix of stubbornness and smarts by Nikohl Boosheri, Roya is the kind of ponderer who sees images from computer screens and lines of iridescent code on the building walls and roadways of Herat.

“The first time I touched a computer, it was like a light in the dark,” the young educator says, standing in front of a classroom of rapt high school girls in Herat Province. Something similar could be said of “Rule Breakers,” which tells the story of Roya and the four gifted students she enlists for Afghanistan’s first robotics team.

While director Bill Guttentag leans into the rules of genre more than breaks with them, the film is a beam of light — about math,...

March is set to be a big month for Hulu, with a packed lineup of movies and shows heading to the streaming service. Things kick off on March 1 with a huge drop of over 50 films, including some major fan favorites.

Sci-fi lovers have plenty to look forward to as Hulu adds nearly the entire Alien franchise to its catalog. Viewers will be able to stream Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Alien vs. Predator, Alien: Covenant, and Prometheus. Prey and Alien: Romulus are already available, so this update brings the full saga together in one place.

For those more interested in award-winning dramas, March 1 also brings several critically acclaimed films, including American Hustle, Brooklyn, Jojo Rabbit, Good Will Hunting, The Social Network, and Sideways.

The Oscars will also be a major event on Hulu this month. The streaming service will air the live broadcast of the Academy Awards on March...

One of the hottest sales titles at TIFF 2024 is finally hitting theaters. Sony Pictures Classics will release “On Swift Horses,” the period war drama and romance from director Daniel Minahan this April, after it closes out the SXSW Film & TV Festival next month.

“On Swift Horses” features a cast that’s as buzzy as it gets with Jacob Elordi, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Will Poulter, and is based on a novel by Shannon Pufahl with a screenplay by Bryce Kass. The film also stars Sasha Calle and Diego Calva.

The film follows Muriel and her husband Lee as they are beginning a bright new life in California upon Lee’s return from the Korean War. But their newfound stability is upended by the arrival of Lee’s charismatic brother, Julius, a wayward gambler with a secret past. A dangerous love triangle quickly forms. When Julius takes off in search of the...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Unidentified, Haifaa Al Mansour’s latest, in North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, and for worldwide airlines.

Directed by Al Mansour and written and produced by Al Mansour and Brad Niemann, the film is described as a “contemporary Saudi-language thriller” and is currently in post-production.

The synopsis reads: In Unidentified, the drama is sparked by the discovery of the lifeless body of a teenage girl in the desert. When no one claims the body, Noelle Al Saffan, a newly divorced, true crime aficionado who recently lost a child of her own, gets obsessively involved. Despite a ticking clock that seemingly guarantees the girl’s senseless death will be discarded as a cold case, Noelle is determined to identify the body and uncover the truth. She slowly unravels a mystery entangled within a traditional society in transition, where women are learning to...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired “Unidentified,” the latest feature from groundbreaking Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour.

The film reunites Al Mansour with SPC 13 years after it came aboard her landmark 2012 debut “Wadjda,” which became the first feature to be shot entirely in Saudi Arabia, the first feature shot by a female Saudi director and the first Saudi Oscar submission.

Currently in post-production and described as a contemporary Arab-language thriller, “Unidentified” — written and produced by Al Mansour and Brad Niemann (“The Perfect Candidate”) — stars Mila Al Zahrani (“The Perfect Candidate”) and Shafi Al Harthi (“A Woman’s Life”). The story revolves around the discovery of the lifeless body of a teenage girl in the desert. When no one claims the body, Noelle Al Saffan, a newly divorced, true crime aficionado who recently lost a child of her own, gets obsessively involved. Despite a ticking clock that seemingly guarantees the girl’s...

Sony Pictures Classics is reteaming with Wadjda director Haifaa Al Mansour on her upcoming contemporary Saudi thriller Unidentified, taking North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, and worldwide airlines.

Al Mansour wrote, directs and is producing alongside Brad Niemann. This is her first feature since 2019 The Perfect Candidate after several years directing American TV and commercials.

Currently in post, Unidentified stars Mila Al Zahrani (The Perfect Candidate) and Shafi Al Harthi (A Woman’s Life) and centres on a true crime aficionado who tries to solve the case of a teenage girl’s corpse found in the desert.

Sony Pictures Classics have pre-bought Unidentified, the new feature from Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour (Wadjda, The Perfect Candidate), acquiring the contemporary Saudi-language thriller film for North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, and worldwide airlines. Writen, directed by Al Mansour, and produced together Brad Niemann (The Perfect Candidate), Unidentified is currently in post-production.

Mila Al Zahrani (The Perfect Candidate) and Shafi Al Harthi (A Woman’s Life) star in the thriller, in which the discovery of a teenage girl’s lifeless body in the desert sparks an investigation. When no one claims the body, Noelle Al Saffan, a newly divorced true crime aficionado who recently lost a child of her own, becomes obsessed with uncovering the truth. Facing a ticking clock that threatens to turn the case cold, Noelle’s determination leads her into a mystery embedded within a society in transition, where women are fighting for greater autonomy.

Inspired by Saudi writer-director-producer Ahd Kamel’s childhood, the nostalgic coming-of-age story “My Driver & I” unfolds against the backdrop of Jeddah in the 1980s and ’90s and traces the relationship of a rebellious girl and the Sudanese chauffeur her affluent family hires as a driver. A more conventional-looking and less compelling watch than “Wadjda” (2012), the Saudi picture to which it is sure to be compared and in which Kamel played a key acting role, “Driver” lacks the convincing struggle against limitations depicted by director Haifaa Al Mansour’s earlier movie.

Indeed, where “Wadjda” was tart, “Driver” is over-sweet to the point of sentimentality. Despite some sad circumstances, just how easy and nice everything seems to be for the central family and their staff somewhat beggars belief. Nevertheless, further festival play is likely and the drama will disseminate widely in Arabic-speaking territories through Dubai-based pay TV and streaming service Osn+.

A bright,...

My Driver And I by Saudi director Ahd Kamel is set to screen not once but thrice as part of the Arab Spectacular Program of the fourth Red Sea International Film Festival, which will run from December 5th to the 14th.

The film is scheduled to hold its world premiere screening at 7 pm on December 6th in the Cultural Square’s Auditorium. From there, the film will screen twice more, once on the following day at 4:15 pm and again at 9:30 pm on December 14th at Cinema 4 of the Cultural Square.

My Driver And I follows Salma, a young, affluent, and rebellious Saudi girl whose family hires a Sudanese man named Gamar to drive her to and from her day-to-day activities.

Initially adhering to a simple employer/employee dynamic, Salma and Gamar’s relationship quickly evolves into a friendship that bonds them through her teenage years and beyond, but...

Starting off its festival tour on a high note, Ahd Kamel‘s Saudi feature My Driver And I has been selected to hold its world premiere as part of the Arab Spectacular Program at the fourth Red Sea International Film Festival, which is set to run from December 5th to the 14th in Saudi Arabia.

The film follows Salma, a young, privileged, and rebellious Saudi girl whose family hires a Sudanese man named Gamar to drive her to and from her day-to-day activities.

Initially adhering to a simple employer/employee dynamic, Salma and Gamar’s relationship quickly evolves into an intimate personal friendship that bonds them through her teenage years and beyond, but their friendship is put to the test when Salma gets older and starts taking the wheel.

Commenting on her film, director Ahd Kamed stated, “The film opens a window on a certain strand of late 20th-century Saudi society,...

Exclusive: Director Haifaa Al Mansour is returning to her native Saudi Arabia for the shoot of crime feature Unidentified, exploring the reality of women amid the current period of immense social change in the country.

“I am so excited to return home to Saudi Arabia for my third film exploring the hidden lives of Saudi women, and to use the criminal mystery genre to explore a gripping story rooted in the deeper issues that affect women in the Kingdom,” said Al Mansour.

The movie is in pre-production and due to begin shooting soon. UTA Independent Film Group and Memento International are teaming up to co-sell and will launch the project in Cannes.

The drama is sparked by the discovery of the lifeless body of a teenage girl in the desert outside a small town. When no one claims the body, Noelle Al Saffan, a newly divorced, true crime aficionado who...

It was only a decade ago that the first feature film to entirely shoot in Saudi Arabia was released — and it was directed by a woman. 2012's Wadjda remains an excellent film, and initiated the slow-drip of a New Saudi Cinema that has included the phenomenal pictures The Tambour of Retribution and The Perfect Candidate. Netflix just released a Saudi film, Alkhallat+. Politics aside, the kingdom is obviously transforming itself through a cultural renaissance of sorts, a modernizing effort that is attracting businesses and artists alike. Darren Lynn Bousman is now one of them.

Bousman is the director behind four films in the Saw franchise, the bombastic horror musical masterpiece Repo! The Genetic Opera, underrated recent films like Abattoir, and genuinely innovative immersive theater experiences like One Day Die. This Midwestern horror maestro is not the first person you'd expect to embed himself in Saudi Arabia and make an Arabic film,...

Submissions Now Open for Short Film Competition

AlUla – 25 July, 2023: Film AlUla, the Royal Commission for AlUla's film agency, today launches ‘AlUla Creates' short film competition, joined by acclaimed production company Vertigo Films (Monsters, Britannia, Bronson), award-winning Saudi Filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour (The Perfect Candidate, Wadjda) and internationally renowned director, producer and actor Katie Holmes (Rare Objects, Alone Together, Batman Begins). Vertigo Films and Film AlUla will helm the competition to support and establish three Saudi women directors in the international marketplace.

Vertigo Films has a longstanding history of discovering and supporting new talent since launching in 2002, with a number of their films and Hetv productions kick-starting the international careers of leading names, including Tom Hardy (Bronson), Gareth Edwards (Monsters), Vanessa Kirby (Kill Command), Sofia Boutella (StreetDance 2), Tom Shankland (The Children), Nicholas Winding Refn (Bronson) and Issa Lopez (Britannia).

Haifaa Al Mansour is the first female filmmaker in Saudi...

Vertigo Films & Haifaa Al Mansour Join Saudi Female Filmmaker Program

UK production company Vertigo Films (Monsters, Britannia, Bronson) and pioneering Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour (The Perfect Candidate, Wadjda) have come on board a Film AlUla program aimed at mentoring emerging female Saudi filmmakers. The initiative, bannered the AlUla Creates’ Saudi Women Director Program, was first announced this year at Cannes Film Festival, alongside news that Katie Holmes was also getting involved. Vertigo, Al Mansour and Holmes will work together to select and then support three emerging female filmmakers from Saudi Arabia. Submissions for the program run until August 31. “When I first started making films the idea of working as a female Saudi director seemed outlandish. But I knew that the world was curious to hear from us, to hear our side of the story, and that films from home would strike a chord with audiences around the world,” said Al Mansour,...

Netflix on Thursday dropped its Saudi Arabian psychological thriller “The Matchmaker,” which centers on a married It worker who becomes infatuated with a beautiful intern at his office and ventures into ground that breaks several types of local boundaries.

In the film, which is directed by Abdulmohsen Aldhabaan — whose 2019 directorial debut “Last Visit” depicted Saudi’s patriarchal culture — the protagonist (Hussam Alharthy) winds up following the intern (Nour Alkhadra) to an eerie desert resort where a matchmaker (Reem Alhabib) promises men she will pair them with their perfect bride.

The basic premise behind “The Matchmaker,” which is produced by disruptive Saudi shingle Telfaz 11, was to make a genre movie that played on the practice of “misyar,” a no-strings attached marriage often done secretly in Saudi society. Under the rules of “misyar” the wife waives conventional marriage rights such as cohabitation and financial support. The practice has been legal in the conservative Muslim kingdom for decades.

Our critic surveys the streaming services’s current offerings to find the best family films – from Monsters, Inc to The Muppet Movie, Wolfwalkers to Wadjda

You’ve survived the heatwave, perhaps already been away, and still the school holidays stretch languidly into September, demanding plans and playdates and activities to fill the slowed summer hours. Sitting the kids in front of the TV for hours on end obviously shouldn’t be the only solution, but it needn’t be as passive as all that. A family film marathon can be a cheerfully sociable use of shared time – not to mention a cheap one, for parents burnt out on repeat cinema trips to Minions: The Rise of Gru. But which streaming platforms will serve you best this summer? And how few of them can you get away with subscribing to? Allow me to break down the best they have to offer.

IMDbPro March Member of the Month: Writer/director Haifaa Al Mansour is best known for her acclaimed and daring film, Wadjda, which earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Film Not in the English Language as well as many other accolades. She followed with her numerous other projects include 2017’s Mary Shelley, starring Elle Fanning, The Perfect Candidate in 2019, and has even more in store. Read our interview with this brave and brilliant director as our IMDbPro March Member of the Month...

Hollywood and regional stars hit the red carpet event in Jeddah’s Al-Balad historic centre.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff) opened in Jeddah on Monday evening (December 6) with an array of international stars on the red carpet, but it was local filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour who stole the show when she received an honorary career award at the opening ceremony.

“When I was a child, watching a movie for me was a dream, and making the first Saudi film was a dream, and being honoured in the first film festival in Saudi Arabia was also a dream,...

The Red Sea International Film Festival (RedSeaIFF), which will have its inaugural edition from 6-15 December, has announced a number of celebrations in honour of the ground-breaking contribution of women to film.

The Festival will honour the first female Saudi filmmaker, Haifaa Al Mansour, who is not only one of the most significant names in the Saudi film industry but has led the way in championing female empowerment across the region.

Her feature debut, Wadjda, was the first film to ever be shot in the Kingdom and was nominated for numerous international awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language. She has since gone on to direct numerous TV shows and films internationally, including Mary Shelley and Nappily Ever After, and continues to break ground in filmmaking.

Also in news – Glasgow Film Festival 2022 Announce Retrospective 1962 Screenings

Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated French actress Catherine Deneuve and...

BIFAs Sets Host

Asim Chaudhry, most known for his role as Chabuddy G in People Just Do Nothing, has been set as host for the 2021 British Independent Film Awards, which will take place on December 5. Back to a physical edition after a one-year virtual hiatus, the ceremony is taking place at London’s Old Billingsgate. Nominations were unveiled last month, with Belfast and Boiling Point leading the way.

BAFTA Rising Star Jury

This year’s BAFTA Rising Star jury will feature Andy Serkis, Sadie Frost and Downton Abbey star Michelle Dockery. Overseen by BAFTA Chair Krishnendu Majumdar, the jury also features casting directors Lucy Bevan and Leo Davis, producer Uzma Hasan, and talent agent Ikki El-Amriti. The shortlist will be announced on February 1, when voting opens to the public. Previous winners of the prize include John Boyega and Letitia Wright. The BAFTAs take place on March 13.

Red Sea Festival To Spotlight Female Filmmakers,...

New works by emerging Arab film directors Soudade Kaadan (“The Day I Lost My Shadow”) and Lina Soualem (“Their Algeria”) are among standouts being presented at the upcoming Cairo Film Connection, the Cairo Film Festival’s co-production platform, where eight out of 15 selected projects are by female filmmakers.

This year more than a third of the Cfc selection is made up of first-time helmers presenting projects, alongside names who’ve made a splash with their debuts and are now working on their second films, and other directors making their first narrative features after establishing themselves in the documentary world.

Cairo Film Festival president Mohamed Hefzy has noted proudly that they received an unprecedented 110 submissions, most of which came from first-timers.

“We’ve decided to take risks in our choices and shine a light on new and eclectic talents,” said new Cfc manager Chadi Zeneddine, who is a former Doha Film Institute programmer.

Jury

Italy’s Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the Oscar, BAFTA and Cannes winning film “Cinema Paradiso,” will preside over the features competition jury at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival (Dec. 6-15). Tornatore’s latest documentary, “Ennio,” about revered composer Ennio Morricone, which bowed at Venice, will have its Arab premiere at the festival out-of-competition in the International Spectacular strand.

Joining Tornatore on the jury are Tunisian actor Hend Sabry (“The Blue Elephant 2”) Palestinian-American director, writer, actor and producer Cherien Dabis (“Amreeka”), Morelia International Film Festival director Daniela Michel and Saudi filmmaker Abdulaziz Alshlahei (“Zero Distance”).

The Red Sea shorts competition jury will be led by Egypt’s Marwan Hamed, director of Tribeca winner “The Yacoubian Building”) who will be joined by Saudi Arabian actor and director Ahd Kamel (“Wadjda”) and Finnish-Somali director and writer Khadar Ayderus (“The Gravedigger’s Wife”).

Trailer

Universal Pictures has released a trailer for “Redeeming Love,...

The Middle East premiere of British director Joe Wright’s dazzling romantic drama “Cyrano” will open the Red Sea Film Festival, which is Saudi Arabia’s first full-fledged film festival and market with international ambitions.

The ambitious event, which is a key plank of the kingdom’s plans to diversify its oil-based economy and become a prominent Middle East moviemaking hub – following the 2017 removal of its religion-related ban on cinema – is set to run Dec. 6-15 in the historic district of the city of Jeddah, a Unesco World Heritage site.

Organizers on Tuesday unveiled a well-assorted lineup featuring lots of fresh Arabic fare interspersed with high-profile international pics such as, besides “Cyrano,” Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Elena Ferrante adaptation “The Lost Daughter,” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon,” and Oscar-nominated Japanese filmmaker Mamoru Hosoda’s anime feature “Belle,” which will open the fest’s Next Generation section.

Event ran September 12-13 concurrent Toronto International Film Festival.

The virtual 2021 Ontario Creates International Financing Forum (iff) that took place this month brought together feature producers on projects at various stages of development with industry executives and hosted more than 550 meetings.

Iff, which took place from September 12-13 concurrent with Toronto International Film Festival, invited 42 industry executives from the likes of Netflix, Neon, Voltage Pictures, The Match Factory and Protagonist Pictures. Charlotte Mickie, vice-president of Celluloid Dreams, said: “Iff is awesome. The offering is diverse and rich, and the conversations with the producers are so stimulating and provocative, in a good way.

German-born UK composer is known for his work on ‘Mary Queen Of Scots’ and ‘Waltz With Bashir’.

The World Soundtrack Awards has named award-winning composer Max Richter as the guest of honour for its upcoming edition in October.

The German-born, UK composer is known for writing scores spanning both film and TV from period feature Mary Queen Of Scots and Oscar-nominated animation Waltz With Bashir to HBO’s The Leftovers and BBC drama Taboo. He has also recorded nearly a dozen solo albums.

Richter will attend the 21st edition of the awards, which will take place in-person as part of...

This review was initially published after the 2019 Venice Film Festival premiere of “The Perfect Candidate.”

As someone with a side gig on the programming team of an LGBT film festival, I’ve noticed that, while the coming-out drama is often tired and clichéd coming from American filmmakers, it can be thrilling when one is produced a part of the world where an honest conversation about queer lives is in its early stages.

It’s not a put-down, then, when I say that Saudi Arabia’s “The Perfect Candidate” reminds me of a cycle of Jane Fonda films from the 1970s and 80s — notably “Coming Home,” “The China Syndrome” and “9 to 5” — where she plays women who fight back against their understanding of the world and discover their own voices in the process. And Jane never had to do it while wearing a niqab.

With exquisite subtlety, director Haifaa Al...

Cinema of Saudi Arabia is a small and still quite new, thus undiscovered industry, releasing a modest number of features per year. 2012‘s „Wadjda” by Haifaa al-Mansour, which won accolades on festivals across the world including BAFTA for the best foreign film, was considered the first motion picture with an all-Saudi cast and shot entirely on location in Sa. It was only in 2018 when the country in a series of socio-economic reforms introduced by the ruler lifted its religion-based ban on movie theatres that lasted 35 years. Also, Saudi Film Council (Sfc) was founded. It opened up brand-new opportunities for filmmakers. Abdulmohsen Aldhabaan was among those who decided to benefit from the change of landscape in an emerging industry and applied for a shooting permit. He started watching movies on VHS and DVD and learned about the cinema from an online forum for cinephiles. Since 2006, he worked as a movie critic and journalist,...

While the name Haifaa Al-Mansour might not be as well known as some international filmmakers, the trailblazing director will always go down in history as the first woman to direct a feature film in Saudi Arabia, with 2012’s “Wadjda.” Obviously, due to the political and religious climate in the Middle East, women aren’t treated nearly as equal as men are, which is something Al-Mansour dives deeper into with her newest film, “The Perfect Candidate.”

Read More: ‘The Perfect Candidate’: Haifaa Al-Mansour Gently Marries Family Tradition & Equality [Venice Review]

And in honor of “The Perfect Candidate” receiving an official theatrical release date in May, we’re thrilled to give our audience an exclusive peek at the trailer for the feature film.

Continue reading ‘The Perfect Candidate’ Exclusive Trailer: Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Heartfelt Drama Arrives In Theaters This May at The Playlist.

Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

Scroll down for the full list

The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September.

“Women Make Film.” The title of Irish film savant Mark Cousins’ sprawling 14-hour follow-up to “The Story of Film” serves both as a statement of fact and, if punctuated slightly differently, a call to action: “Women, Make Film!”

Where the earlier documentary was a monumental survey of the medium, attempting to cram its entire history into a single project, with footage shot through the windshields of cars on nearly every continent. He and editor Timo Langer have assembled montage upon montage of magic moments, the vast majority plucked from films even I was unfamiliar with, amounting to an invaluable film appreciation workshop. It’s ideal for those with open minds and eclectic tastes, such as festival audiences and subscribers of Turner Classic Movies and The Criterion Channel, where the film can be absorbed in bite-size chunks.

“This is a film school of sorts in which all the teachers are women,...

The coronavirus continues to sweep the globe, causing mass lockdowns everywhere. Luckily, we live in what is arguably the best time to be stuck at home in history. Widespread internet access means leisure activities are easy; you could spin a roulette on Casimba Casino, do a home workout routine, or listen to music without having to leave the comfort of your home. You also have access to some of the greatest movies ever made, not least by Asian filmmakers. Here are the 10 best Asian movies you can watch during lockdown.

Seven Samurai

This influential Kurosawa masterpiece eventually became The Magnificent Seven, a Western directed by John Sturges. That movie is great, of course, but the original is yet to be topped. Kurosawa’s cinematography is fluid and kinetic, and the characterisation of each of the samurai is compelling and bold. The plot is simple: seven samurai have been hired to...

Haifaa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia’s first female filmmaker, is adapting the popular young adult novel “The Selection” into a Netflix film.

“The Selection,” written by Kiera Cass, centers on America Singer, a young girl in a dystopian future where she and dozens of other women are relocated to a palace and compete for a prince’s affections. The novel was a critical success that spawned four spin-offs.

More from IndieWireNew Movies: Release Calendar for April 10, Plus Where to Watch the Latest Films'The Half of It' Trailer: Alice Wu's Adorable Queer 'Cyrano' Riff for Netflix

The film will be executive produced by Margaret French Isaac, with Denise Di Novi and Pouya Shahbazian serving as executive producers. Netflix confirmed the news to IndieWire but casting and a release date are still unknown.

“I’m thrilled to be working with the brilliant Haifaa Al-Mansour and our friends at Netflix on this special film,...

Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour will direct Netflix’s upcoming film “The Selection,” based on the first entry in Kiera Cass’ popular book series.

Published in 2012, the book is set in a dystopian future where 35 girls are selected to move to a royal palace and compete for a prince’s heart. America Singer is from the society’s lower class and chosen as one of Prince Maxon’s suitors, but she’s torn between the life and love she left behind. Over time, she grows strong feelings for the Prince.

“The Selection” is the first in a five-book series and has sold more than 11 million copies around the world.

“We are thrilled to be working with Netflix and bringing these beloved books to life for the extraordinarily loyal and passionate fan base,” producer Denise Di Novi said. “The author Kiera Cass has created a spellbinding fantasy whose message of empowerment...

Distributor Modern Films has opted to give an online release to “The Perfect Candidate” in the U.K., as an alternative to the planned theatrical release, which has been put back as British movie theaters shutter due to coronavirus.

The film by Haifaa Al Mansour, the trailblazing Saudi director of “Wadjda,” was scheduled for theatrical release on March 27. Modern Films attributed the decision to the “current time of uncertainty around cinemagoing and the Covid-19 virus,” and said it preferred this route to canceling or postponing the release. The company plans to release it in theaters as soon as possible.

The partner on the online release is Curzon Cinemas, through their Curzon Home Cinema platform. It will also be available on the BFI Player, as the British Film Institute is supporting the film release through their Lottery-funded Audience Fund, and on Modern Film’s own streaming space via modernfilms.com.

Modern...

Music Box Films has acquired the North American rights to “The Perfect Candidate” from Saudi Arabian director Haifaa Al-Mansour, an individual with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap.

The distributor plans to release the film theatrically in 2020 followed by a home entertainment release.

“The Perfect Candidate” premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in 2019 and was Saudi Arabia’s official submission to the Best International Feature race at the 92nd Academy Awards. It will next make its U.S. premiere at the Sundance Film Festival later this month.

Al-Mansour is the director of “Wadjda,” which was the first Saudi film to be directed by a woman and the country’s first-ever submission to the Oscars. “The Perfect Candidate” is Al-Mansour’s return to her home country after a few projects in the English language.

Exclusive: Haifaa Al-Mansour’s political parable The Perfect Candidate has been picked up for North America by Music Box Films ahead of the movie’s U.S. premiere at Sundance.

The Venice title is the latest film from pioneering director Haifaa al-Mansour, who made the first Saudi Arabian feature Wadjda in 2012. The film marks a directorial return to her homeland.

The Perfect Candidate follows Maryam, a young Saudi doctor, who runs for city council after the male incumbent repeatedly ignores her request to fix the muddy road leading to her clinic. However, as the campaign slowly garners broader appeal, Maryam’s candidacy challenges her more traditional family, as she becomes a symbol for a much larger movement.

Producers include Al-Mansour, Brad Niemann, Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul.

Music Box Films, which acquired all film rights in the U.S. and Canada, plans a theatrical run later this year followed by a home entertainment release.

Deadline has highlighted 11 movies that had a transformative impact on the film industry and/or the wider world in the decade of the 2010s. The non-exhaustive list includes movies from across the globe and considers their effect on box office, careers, companies, industry trends and cultural conversation. Our list includes movies released between 2010-2019.

The King’s Speech (2010)

A case can be made that The King’s Speech is the most successful independent British film ever. Made for a budget of around $15 million, the film went on to make north of $415M and score an array of awards, including the Best Picture Oscar (among 12 Academy nominations). The film typified the hard-fought way British independent films get made (although unusually there was no BBC or Film4) and, whether we like it or not, helped cement a global fascination for all things British aristocracy and royal family. The film propelled careers (Tom Hooper and...

When Haifaa Al-Mansour made her first feature film “Wadjda” in 2012, Saudi Arabia’s first-ever Oscar submission, she famously had to direct the film from the back of a van while segregated from her male cast and crew as she worked. For her latest film “The Perfect Candidate,” she wanted to see just how much times have changed in her country since then.

While many people filmed TV, the public exhibition of movies early in the decade was still forbidden, and many locals would be apprehensive to allow filmmakers to use actors or use locations for a film for fear of reprisal from radicals or the government. Since “Wadjda,” Al-Mansour has made a handful of English-language films and shows, and she’s observed how the fear toward cinema in her country has lessened.

“Cinema was legal, and I wanted to know what had changed,” Al-Mansour told TheWrap’s Steve Pond following...

This year, with some mighty titles from the Maghreb evaluated alongside the rest of continental Africa, the competitive potential of the Middle East lineup handicapped here may seem a tad diminished. Nevertheless, the territory boasts a possible short-list contender in Palestinian helmer Elia Suleiman’s wry travelog “It Must Be Heaven,” which nabbed the international critics award at 2019 Cannes.

Back in 2003, Suleiman’s second feature, “Divine Intervention,” marked the first of 12 submissions made by Palestine over the years. During that time, the entries resulted in two nominations, both for films helmed by Hany Abu-Assad: “Paradise Now” (2005) and “Omar” (2013). Now, Suleiman, like Abu-Assad, is recognized as an elder statesman of Palestinian filmmaking as well as an accomplished auteur whose films continue to bear witness to the surreal and the absurd in Palestinian life at home and abroad. Although his work is better-known in Europe than in the U.S., “It Must Be Heaven...

Exclusive: Haifaa Al-Mansour, whose The Perfect Candidate bowed in Competition at Venice this year, has signed to direct Let It Go, a biopic of pioneering Brit technology entrepreneur Dame Stephanie Shirley.

The English-language project will track the life of Shirley, who arrived in the UK in 1939 as a six-year-old refugee from Nazi Germany. From humble roots she built up an information technology business to be worth more than $3bn.

She was also a firm advocate of women’s rights in the workplace, creating numerous job opportunities for women at her company and also giving them shares, which made many of them rich. The early days of computing and software were heavily male-dominated, and Shirley adopted the name “Steve” to help her get ahead after finding her letters penned under Stephanie were often ignored.

Producers on the pic are Damian Jones (The Iron Lady) and The Development Partnership, the sister company...

Haifaa Al Mansour’s “The Perfect Candidate,” about a Saudi doctor who challenges the patriarchal system in her country by running in municipal elections, has been selected as Saudi Arabia’s contender for the international feature film Oscar.

The tale of female empowerment and individualism, which screened at Venice and Toronto, is Saudi Arabia’s first Oscar submission after a longstanding religious ban on cinema in the kingdom was lifted in 2017. The selection was made by the Saudi Academy Awards Committee, an independent group of filmmakers and cinema figures chaired by local director and producer Abdullah Aleyaf.

Al Mansour’s acclaimed debut feature, “Wadjda,” was the first film that Saudi Arabia submitted to the Academy in 2012, before the ban was lifted.

Produced by La-based Al-Mansour and Brad Niemann, with Berlin-based Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul of Razor Film Produktion, “The Perfect Candidate” is the first film to be supported by the Saudi Film Council,...

Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.

Scroll down for latest entries

The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Saudi Arabia has selected Haifaa Al Mansour's The Perfect Candidate as its official entry for the 2020 Oscars in the best international feature category, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The film — which competed for the Golden Lion in Venice — marks only the country's third submission to the Academy, its first coming in 2014 with Al Mansour's acclaimed debut feature Wadjda, which for many was a surprise omission from the nominations. The country's submission three years later, Barakah Meets Barakah, also didn't make it through to the final shortlist.

The selection was made by the ...

Saudi Arabia has selected Haifaa Al Mansour's The Perfect Candidate as its official entry for the 2020 Oscars in the best international feature category, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The film — which competed for the Golden Lion in Venice — marks only the country's third submission to the Academy, its first coming in 2014 with Al Mansour's acclaimed debut feature Wadjda, which for many was a surprise omission from the nominations. The country's submission three years later, Barakah Meets Barakah, also didn't make it through to the final shortlist.

The selection was made by the ...

In 2013, Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa al-Mansour burst on the scene with “Wadjda,” a female coming-of-age story set in a country where women’s rights still lag behind international standards. “Wadjda” was an instant success, launching al-Mansour’s career as a Hollywood filmmaker and landing her projects such as the Elle Fanning vehicle “Mary Shelley“ and the Netflix original “Nappily Ever After.” Her latest film, “The Perfect Candidate,” sees al-Mansour returning to her native country for another story of female empowerment, this time exploring the evolving political opportunities for women in Saudi Arabia.

Continue reading Mila Al Zahrani Is The Face Of Change In The First Trailer & Clips For Venice’s ‘The Perfect Candidate’ at The Playlist.

Razor Film Produktion shot both Haifaa Al-Mansour’s ’Wadjda’ and her new Venice title.

Speaking in Venice this weekend, German producers Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul, co-founders of Razor Film Produktion, have expressed their optimism about the future prospects for the Saudi film industry.

Meixner and Paul broke new ground by producing Haifaa Al-Mansour’s Wadjda (2013), the first feature shot entirely in Saudi Arabia as well as the first feature-length film made by a Saudi female director. Now, they’ve been back to Saudi Arabia to produce Al-Mansour’s new feature The Perfect Candidate, sold by The Match Factory, which...

Haifaa al-Mansour, the first Saudi woman to direct a feature, goes back to basics with an effective story of a doctor trying to enter politics

Haifaa al-Mansour was the first Saudi woman to direct a feature film, landing out of the blue at the 2012 Venice film festival with her coming-of-age drama Wadjda. Mansour’s achievement was noteworthy in itself, but Wadjda turned out to be more than some dry historical milestone. It was rousing, galvanic, a big-hearted rebel yell about an 11-year-old girl who defies the elders in her efforts to buy a bicycle so she can race against boys. Just recalling that film is enough to make me well up.

Now, after a brace of English-language misadventures, Mansour is back on home soil, and decidedly back to core principles in that her new film delivers another salute to the indomitable female spirit, to the point where it might just...

Trailblazing Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour doesn’t want to talk politics.

The oil-rich kingdom’s first female director, who in 2012 broke taboos with ”Wadjda,” about a 10-year-old girl who wants to flout the rules and ride a bicycle, is back in Venice with competition pic “The Perfect Candidate.” The new film focuses on a female Saudi doctor who challenges the patriarchal system there by running as a candidate in municipal elections in a tight race against a male opponent.

But asked whether politics have affected Saudi’s embryonic film industry since a 35-year ban on moviegoing was lifted in 2017, she said: “No matter what the political situation is … art should always prevail and be given top priority, because it is … what pushes for civilization to grow, what shapes people’s minds and hearts. It’s important not to give up on that.” She declined to be drawn into specifics.

Haifaa Al-Mansour’s “Wadjda,” the first movie ever filmed entirely within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, told the story of a young Muslim girl who bristled against the restrictive gender norms of her ancient local custom and dreamed of owning a bicycle; it followed someone coming-of-age in a country that seemed aggressively resistant to change. Al-Mansour’s “The Perfect Candidate,” which tells the story of a twentysomething Muslim woman who campaigns to win a seat on her town’s municipal council, often feels like a lucid mirror image of the director’s 2012 breakthrough: it follows someone trying to sustain the essence of her identity in a country that’s aggressively coming-of-age. A lot can change in seven years.

Saudi Arabia — as you may have read in the headlines — is making well-publicized strides to join the 21st century. Women have now been granted the right to vote; domestic violence has been...

It’s hard to know who’s the perfect audience for “The Perfect Candidate,” Haifaa Al Mansour’s first Saudi film since “Wadjda.” Even more than in that debut hit, her latest is clearly designed to demythologize the Kingdom, taking a host of cultural signifiers and parading them out in the cinematic equivalent of billboard-sized letters to show that Saudi society is heterogeneous and mutable. The script is so simplistic in how it runs through a checklist of cultural practices — women’s dress, gendered spaces, the role of music — that it reduces the people themselves to unsophisticated representatives of change, and yet its welcome message of female empowerment will be embraced by Western audiences pleased to see women removing their niqabs. How it will play regionally is difficult to guess, though it’s encouraging that cinemas now exist in Saudi Arabia for locals to see it, too.

While “Wadjda,” with its scrappy protagonist,...