HanWay Films set Douglas Booth (Noah) to star as poet Percy Shelley in Haifaa Al-Mansour’s A Storm in the Stars. He joins Elle Fanning and Bel Powley. Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia’s first female director, made waves with her critically acclaimed debut, Wadjda. Production starts this fall, as a European co-production with…

EXCLUSIVE: Haifaa Al Mansour made history with Wadjda, the first feature by a Saudi Arabian woman and the first to be shot entirely within the Kingdom. For her second feature, the director is in negotiations to helm A Storm In The Stars for Amy Baer's Gidden Media. The period romantic drama is about the tumultuous…

Haifaa Al Mansour Tapped As President Of International Jury At Venice Film Festival Haifaa Al Mansour will return to Venice this year as president of the International Jury for the Luigi De Laurentiis prize for a debut film, the award that’s akin to Cannes’ Camera d’Or. Al Mansour is the first woman to ever direct a…

Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda is the first-ever feature shot entirely inside the Kingdom – and notably the first Saudi film made by a female director. It debuted in Venice last year where Al Mansour said she was sometimes relegated to directing by telephone since Saudi law does not allow women and…

This morning, Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al Mansour shared details of what it's like to be the first female director of a Saudi film which is also the first-ever feature shot entirely inside the Kingdom. Speaking of Venice Horizons entry Wadjda, she said she was sometimes relegated to directing by telephone. Saudi…