Director, Lief
Few filmmakers have overcome as much or impacted their local film industries as significantly as Saudi director Haifaa Al Mansour – she is the first female filmmaker in Saudi Arabia and is regarded as one of the most significant cinematic figures in the Kingdom. Most recently, Al Mansour’s ‘What If You Can?’ for Nike made immediate viral impact success in the world of advertising, reaching 37 Million views within a week.
Haifaa Al Mansour is from Al-Hasa, Saudi Arabia, and studied film direction at the University of Sydney. The success of her first three short films, as well as the award-winning documentary WOMEN WITHOUT SHADOWS, influenced a whole new wave of Saudi filmmakers and made the issue of opening cinemas in the Kingdom a front-page discussion. Within the Kingdom, her work is both praised and vilified for encouraging discussion on topics generally considered too taboo, like tolerance, the dangers of orthodoxy, and the need for Saudis to take a critical look at their traditional and restrictive culture.
In 2011, she shot her debut narrative feature, WADJDA, hiding in the back of a van. It would have been impossible for a woman to be seen openly on the street giving orders to men. So, she kept out of sight and used a walkie-talkie. The film was gorgeous, a funny, big-hearted story about a gobby 10-year-old girl who would stop at nothing to get her hands on a bike. WADJDA, which she wrote and directed, made its world premiere at the 2012 Venice Film Festival; it is the first full-length feature to be shot entirely in Saudi Arabia and through 2013, the only feature-length film made in Saudi Arabia by a female director.
She went on to direct MARY SHELLEY, starring Elle Fanning, which premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Her second Saudi film, THE PERFECT CANDIDATE, is another inspiring story of female resistance, this time about a young female doctor who runs, almost by accident, for office in local elections. Her latest, UNIDENTIFIED is her third Saudi feature film, premiering at TIFF 2025.
Al Mansour, meanwhile, has become one of the most in-demand television directors in Hollywood, helming episodes of hit series including ARCHIVE 81, CITY OF FIRE, TALES OF THE WALKING DEAD, and BOSCH: LEGACY. But even with a packed schedule, her gaze has never left her home country and the burgeoning talent that follows the path she first trod — maintaining a particular focus on the young women making film and television.
