Berlin Feminist Film Week 2020: Opening

Event Information

We’re opening the 2020 Berlin Feminist Film Week with Haifaa Al-Mansour’s feature film The Perfect Candidate.

Maryam is a doctor in a small Saudi-Arabian town. Despite being highly competent, she continuously has to fight to earn the respect of her employees and patients. After complaining about the conditions of the road leading up to her clinic, her demands are met with disinterest by local officials. When Maryam’s attempt to visit a medical conference in Dubai fails due to not having a male travel companion, she realizes that signing up as a candidate for a local election will allow her to access through road blocks and also give her some leverage to change road conditions. Maryam employs the help of her two sisters, one of whom is a wedding videographer, to organise the launch her electoral campaign that will challenge the patriarchal structure and social codes of Saudi Arabia. At every corner they are met with the restrictions against women, but Maryam’s voice only gets louder, her steps more courageous and her demands more radical.

As in her film Wadjda, Al-Mansour uses Maryam’s character to explore women’s rights in Saudi Arabia through her lens. It’s an uplifting story of how a small act, can slowly but surely affect change.