Saudi Runaway

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Movie
Original title Saudi Runaway
Country of production Switzerland
original language German
Publishing year 2020
length 88 minutes
Rod
Director Susanne Regina Meures
script Susanne Regina Meures
production Christian Frei
music Karim Sebastian Elias
camera Muna
cut Christian Frei

Saudi Runaway is a Swiss documentary film under the direction of Susanne Regina Meures . The film had its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival in February 2020 .

action

Muna is a 26 year old woman from Saudi Arabia . She secretly documented her life between April and June 2019 with two smartphones. Muna lives with her parents and her little brother in Jeddah . The camera shows her everyday life behind veils and closed doors. As a woman, she experiences severe restrictions and state control. When it becomes apparent that her quest for autonomy in Saudi Arabia has no future, Muna plans her escape. She uses her upcoming arranged marriage in the hope of being able to escape during her honeymoon in Abu Dhabi . She plans to flee under the leadership of a Saudi activist stationed outside the UK. She films her wedding preparation, the marriage , the flight to the honeymoon and her escape. During the honeymoon, Muna steals her passport from her husband's pocket and flees to Frankfurt via Belarus. The film not only shows the difficulties and dangers of physical flight, but also describes the emotional turmoil with which Muna has to break away from her family.

production

The director Susanne Regina Meures contacted a Saudi activist who ran a chat group with various women from Saudi Arabia who were considering fleeing. The activist issued a call on her behalf to seek out women who were planning to leave the country in the near vicinity. Over 30 women registered, but none of them wanted to film their faces. Only one woman named Muna agreed to the film project with the following words: “I want to make this film. I need to show the world what is going on “(I want to make this film. I want to show the world what is going on here). Meures was in constant contact with Muna using encrypted messenger applications. Meures and Muna chatted for between five and six hours every day and discussed the form and content of the video material. Muna was able to flee to Germany and received asylum there.

Muna could not be present at the world premiere of her film.

Awards

The film premiered in February 2020 at the Sundance Film Festival 2020 world premiere and ran there under the section World Cinema Documentary Competition . At the Panorama Audience Award of the Berlinale 2020 in the Panorama Documents category , the film took second place. Saudi Runaway was also nominated for the 2020 Amnesty Film Award.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. a b saudi runaway. In: sundance.org. Retrieved February 23, 2020 .
  2. a b c d Sundance's Most Powerful Movies Eschew Celebrities For Real Life Saudi Drama. In: papercitymag.com. January 30, 2020, accessed February 23, 2020 (American English).
  3. Panorama. In: berlinale.de. Retrieved February 23, 2020 .
  4. ^ A b c Adrian Horton: Saudi Runaway: behind a suspenseful and courageous documentary . In: The Guardian . January 31, 2020, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed February 23, 2020]).
  5. 'Saudi Runaway': Film Review | Sundance 2020. In: hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved February 23, 2020 .
  6. The Panorama Audience Awards go to Otac (Father) and Welcome to Chechnya. In: berlinale.de. February 29, 2020, accessed February 29, 2020 .
  7. 19 Berlinale films nominated for the Amnesty Film Prize 2020. In: amnesty.de. February 20, 2020, accessed February 29, 2020 .