{"id":20354,"date":"2013-09-23T19:02:58","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T23:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/?p=20354"},"modified":"2013-10-11T12:45:41","modified_gmt":"2013-10-11T16:45:41","slug":"wadjda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2013\/09\/23\/wadjda\/20354\/","title":{"rendered":"Wadjda"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Saudi Arabia\u2019s first female director, Haifaa al-Mansour wrote and directed a film that reflects everyday life in the capitol city, Riyadh. \u201cWadjda\u201d follows the story of a young girl who enters a Quran recitation contest to raise money for a green bicycle. Until this April, Saudi women were prohibited from riding bicycles and it\u2019s still not common, but that doesn\u2019t stop Wadjda from practicing on her family\u2019s rooftop. She also listens to pop music, paints her toenails and reluctantly wears a headscarf.\u00a0Al-Mansour did much of her directing from inside a van, communicating with her crew using a walkie-talkie because women and men are not allowed in the street together. She says religion permeates Saudi culture, \u201cIf you grow up in Saudi, religion is present every day. You cannot escape it. It becomes more than just being a good Muslim or not a good Muslim. It becomes part of the life.\u201d\u00a0Interview and editing by Lauren Talley.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Arab world will always be a religious place,\u201d says film director Haifaa Al-Mansour, but \u201cit\u2019s important not to see ourselves as us against the world. It\u2019s more of us with the world.\u201d More →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":20357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6569],"tags":[814,417,8533,2244,10333,992],"class_list":["post-20354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videocast","tag-film","tag-islam","tag-quran","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-theocracy","tag-women","topics-culture-and-society","topics-faith-and-spirituality","topics-literature-and-the-arts","faith-muslim"],"yoast_head":"\nWadjda | September 23, 2013 | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Watch our interview with Saudi Arabia\u2019s first female director, Haifaa al-Mansour, who wrote and directed the Oscar-nominated film "Wadjda."\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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