How To Invent Cinema In The 21st Century

Today sees the Australian release of Wadjda, a film about an eleven-year-old Saudi Arabian girl who dreams of owning a bicycle she sees in a store. If you haven’t seen the film, that description has probably conjured an instant image of what the film might be: a dour, ugly drama making the usual points about oppression via a fixation on a mundane object. If you watch enough arthouse cinema, it’s almost a genre unto itself.

Leave your preconceptions at the door. Wadjda is one of the deftest, smartest, and hilarious films you will see all year. Wadjda (Waad Mohammed) is an hilarious force-of-nature, defiant and charismatic. The story is sweet without betraying the seriousness of the social culture; funny without betraying the drama.

It’s an extraordinary piece of work, which is why the following two facts are almost impossible to fathom: one, it is the first ever film shot entirely within Saudi Arabia; two, in a culture that decries both the arts and the role of women, it is directed by a woman, Haifaa al-Mansour. If Wadjda was bad, it would still be a bold political statement. The fact that it’s great is just a bonus.

Cinema is still a relatively new artform in a world of music, art and literature, so it shouldn’t be surprising that there are still countries that are just starting out. Unlike music, art and literature, it is an artform that requires a certain amount of complex technology, and is not as immediately available to people the way that, say, a pen and paper are. The advent of digital cinematography is certainly helping with this revolution.

Although that is certainly true, the biggest barrier to filmmaking seems to be cultural. Countries with limited or non-existent film industries suffer from either oppressive cultural dictates, or a population too small to financially support a whole industry that’s often bombarded with bigger overseas films.

Perhaps what’s most surprising is not how many countries are just starting out, but how many countries have been in it from the beginning. Egypt entered the film business in 1896, with Morocco following in 1897. Syria began making films in 1928. Although Macedonia didn’t make a feature film until 1952’s Frosnia, it first began producing cinema in 1895.

The immediacy with which countries around the world took to filmmaking underlines this cultural factor. It was a technological curiosity, and would not carry with it the burden of religious turpitude until much later. Many industries that adopted film from the get-go went through periods of cinematic wilderness as their countries experienced religious and societal upheaval. It is only now that they are beginning to emerge once again.

With Wadjda carrying the stamp of approval by being Saudi Arabia’s official (and first ever) entry to the Academy Awards, it seems that even the most ardent countries are becoming relaxed about the artform.

United Arab Emirates only started making films in 2005, beginning with the comedy-drama Al-Hilm, about a frustrated group of writers and directors lost in the desert after attempting to shoot a film. Since then, the cinema of UAE has taken off, with three released features last year alone.

Oman is far more liberal than Saudi Arabia, but even it has been relatively late to the party. The first ever Omani film was made in 2006. Al-Boom, which was loosely based on Waiting For Godot, was set in an Omani fishing village. Since then, only a handful of Omani films have been made: DranDeh and Mani Petha Brath Nest, both in 2010, as well as a number of short films.

Our focus on countries in the Middle East and Africa that are starting out may give the impression that these regions are behind the West when it comes to filmmaking. They are, in fact, the notable exceptions. A few years ago, Nigeria surpassed Hollywood as the world’s second biggest film producer. Naturally, India’s Bollywood is still far and away number one.

For every cinematically-burgeoning Saudi Arabia, there is a prolific Egypt; for every industry-free Qatar, there is an Iran. (If you’re not familiar with Iranian cinema, you’re missing out on one of the most exciting, important movements in living memory. There’s too much of it to go into here, so we’ll leave you to do your own research.)

There is a region of the world, however, that is collectively devoid of its own cinema, and that is Oceania. Although Australian and New Zealand cinema is successful in their right, it is the island nations that are just getting started.

Samoa, with its population of less than 200 000, has only made one feature film: 2011’s The Orator. It is, to date, the only feature film released in the Samoan language.

Fiji’s only feature film is 2004’s The Land Has Eyes, focusing on a young woman whose father is wrongly accused of being a thief. It premiered at Sundance, and is the only feature film made in the Rotuman language.

The island of Niue has only made four films, all of which were produced between 2003 and 2011. It is not clear if these are features or shorts, and whether they are produced by Niue or about Niue.

Cinema has been one of the driving forces of homogenised culture, with everything slowly beginning to look and sound like a variation on a Hollywood theme. But it is also a form of preservation. Languages and cultures are notoriously dying at an alarming rate, and although we may not be able to save them, we can record them in a way that captures the nuances and detail of each culture.

Wadjda is, in this respect, tremendously important, revealing a side to Saudi Arabian life that we have never seen. The fact that it is also extraordinarily good certainly helps.

Follow Lee on Twitter: @leezachariah