Miu Miu taps Saudi Arabian director Haifaa Al-Mansour for ‘Women’s Tales’ series

Back in 2012, Miu Miu launched its Women’s Tales short film series with the aim of encouraging female directors to “investigate vanity and femininity in the 21st century.” Now, six years on, the series has just released its 16th film. 

The Wedding Singer’s Daughter is the work of Saudi Arabian filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour. The acclaimed director was the first Saudi to be nominated for a foreign language Oscar for her 2013 film Wadjda. Her latest work for Miu Miu is set in the 1980s in Saudi Arabia at a wedding which Al-Mansour says “are the actual mirror of society in Saudi Arabia: segregated, fragmented, along gender and class. I wanted to tell the story of those people, and capture that tenderness.”  The story follows a wedding singer (played by Saudi pop artist Rotana Tarabzouni) who is performing at a wedding until the electricity is cut off. Her daughter then hatches a plan to save the day (and her mother’s performance).

Of her involvement in the series, Al-Mansour said in a release, “It’s very important for women to tell their stories. And sometimes it’s hard. For me, the little girl represents the future and the future belongs to outsiders.” 

The film debuted at the Venice Film Festival last night at a dinner hosted by Miuccia Prada and attended by some of Hollywood’s elite, including Naomi Watts, Chloe Grace Moretz, Dakota Fanning and Guillermo Del Toro. 

Watch Haifaa talk about her journey into filmmaking below…

And then watch The Wedding Singer’s Daughter…

Now, read what Indian director Nandita Das had to say about female empowerment in film.