Wadjda

Young Saudi Arabian doctor Maryam has had enough. Once again, her travel permit was refused while the access road to the clinic is still not tarmacked after years of waiting. Maryam is no longer willing to accept the miserable conditions that surround the hospital nor her limited opportunities as a woman. If no one else is willing to make a change, she will take things into her own hands. Both outraged and determined, Maryam becomes the first female candidate for the city council. A surprise, not only for the long-term male incumbent, but also for her own family. Seven years after her wonderful debut WADJDA, director Haifaa Al Mansour returns with an amusing, sensitive and optimistic portrayal of a courageous woman caught between strict tradition and cautious emancipation in the patriarchal environment of her home country.

If you were to ask a group of film experts which country is currently the least appropriate setting for a hilarious, truly wacky romantic comedy, the chances are that Saudi Arabia would come out on top. But their guesses would be wrong, as Barakah yoqabil Barakah provides more than enough evidence to the contrary. He’s a municipal civil servant from Jeddah whose origins are humble to say the least, while she’s a wild beauty, the adopted daughter of a rich couple whose marriage has suffered due to their lack of biological children. He’s also an amateur actor in a theatre company rehearsing a production of "Hamlet", while she functions as a crowd-puller for her stylish adoptive mother’s boutique and runs her own boisterous, widely-seen vlog. Fate brings them together - in an environment hostile to dating of any kind. But the two of them show breathtaking ingenuity to circumvent the system of tradition, etiquette and religious police - with the crucial help of a quirky midwife and a pink push up bra. Barakah yoqabil Barakah is a film for anyone who’s always wanted to know just what else is going on in Saudi Arabia