Haifaa Al-Mansour

The Doha Film Institute (DFI) has awarded a grant to Saudi director Haifaa Al-Mansour’s new animation feature that challenges restrictions against women in the Gulf, reported Doha News.

The new film tells the story of a teenage camel who travels to Doha to compete in the Miss Camel beauty pageant, challenging the “deep-rooted restrictions of her culture,” DFI said in a statement.

“Miss Camel” is among 30 projects from 19 countries that have been awarded grants this year by DFI.

Twenty-four of these projects are from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, while six are from the rest of the world, including for the first time filmmakers from Chile, Peru and Spain. The exact funding amounts of the projects have not been released.

Saudi Arabia’s first female director, Al-Mansour, is known for her award winning film ‘Wajda’, about a ten-year-old girl living in the Saudi capital of Riyadh who wants to pursue a simple dream of having a bicycle.

Speaking about Al-Mansour’s latest projects, DFI CEO Fatma Al-Remaihi said in a statement:

“Animated films are very popular in our region so it is very encouraging to see an acclaimed filmmaker like Haifaa Al-Mansour turn her skills to this important genre; we support two other animated projects in this grants cycle as well.”

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