by Gill Pringle at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Financed by Saudi’s Red Sea Foundation, this compendium of five short films, all directed and written by young Saudi female filmmakers, is stitched together to present various reflections on women’s everyday lives.

If Saudi Arabia [KSA] is perceived as an oppressive kingdom, then Becoming flips the coin by spotlighting abortion, anxiety, menstruation, female drivers and even a bride-to-be fleeing from her own marriage.

In addressing these issues, many of which are understood to be taboo topics in KSA, then it’s oddly reassuring to see these insightful shorts actually being made in the country.

Premiering earlier this month at the Cairo Film Festival, Becoming was also warmly received at the inaugural edition of the Red Sea Film Festival.

Not to be confused with Michelle Obama’s Becoming or, indeed, the numerous other films of the same name, the Arabic-language title of this collection translates to something closer to “puberty”, an apt description for Saudi’s cultural re-awakening.

Shuttered for 35 years, Saudi cinemas finally reopened in 2018 with an accompanying rush to provide home grown content, with a clear demand to hear these real stories.

Saudi director-writer Sara Mesfer’s segment, titled Al Dabah, speaks about an abortion attempt by a 40-year-old woman as observed by her older daughter.

If abortion rights are under threat even in western cultures like the US, then one can only imagine how the subject might be perceived in KSA, yet Mesfer insists that there was never any form of censorship. “Abortion is not allowed in Saudi Arabia, but growing up, a lot of women around me – my cousins and friends – 80% of them have two to three kids that they didn’t want to have… just because they didn’t have the choice of aborting the baby.

“I’m not a mother myself, but I want to explore the relationship between women and their bodies because we don’t get educated about this in Saudi Arabia. Society does not care about women and their bodies,” says Mesfer, eluding to an acquaintance struggling with abortion choices at the same time she was offered to write and direct her own segment for Becoming.

“It made me realise how, for many women, giving birth to a baby which they don’t want is like a small death for her in order for another life to be born. Even within a marriage, the woman still has to have the baby whether she wants it or not, because her husband must give his consent for everything.

“I’ve been surrounded by all these stories for a long time. Children who grow into adults knowing their mother didn’t want to have them… These stories just keep repeating,” she says, adding how many Saudi women seek abortions in Egypt where, although it’s not legal there, there are clinics catering to demand.

Like her filmmaker peers, Mesfer didn’t grow up with cinema, uncertain if it was prudent to even pursue a career in film. “I’m a feminist, so I know that the first step towards independence is to become financially independent. When I first begun studying film, I was very concerned whether I could make a career out of this. But it’s worked out,” she says, wearing her natural curly hair uncovered.

“A lot of my friends no longer wear the veil but, even at the festival, if we see a camera, they will pull on the veil in case their family sees her on television. I was covered at some point in my life, but not now. It wasn’t easy and it’s very complicated even for our families as we go through these changes. I’m not saying everything is perfect now. There is still room for more change.”

If women burned their bras in the ‘60s, she explains that Saudi women would never burn their veils. “You have to respect a woman’s choice. It’s a tradition here and is also religious. My mother is fully covered, and she is a very strong woman and a feminist and most of the things that I have now in society is because of her. It’s a personal choice and my taking the veil off should not interfere with another woman’s choice to put it on.”

Another short film in Happening is Hend Al Fahhad’s The Unforgetting Hand, which tells the story of a female infertility healer suffering from the onset of Alzheimer’s.

“I started filmmaking in 2012, so it’s no longer new to be a female Saudi filmmaker – but the difference now is that cinema is back after 35 years,” says Al Fahhad. “Although our films were shown in film festivals around the world, the big difference is that we can finally share these stories with our own people.”

“My story is centered around Alzheimer’s, which is something we can all understand regardless of where we live or where we’re from. Our individual stories allow audiences to see themselves and their lives reflected.”

More than anything, she hopes to inspire young girls who don’t live in Saudi’s big cities of Riyadh or Jeddah. “There are thousands of girls living in small villages who have a dream, and we want our work to inspire them to do whatever they want to do. Just be honest when you tell your stories and stay strong,” she says.

Jawaher Alamri’s A Gathering With The Cosmos is a surprisingly amusing story about a young girl reluctantly revealing to her aunt that she has had her first period.

“I am not worried about retribution because these are truthful representations of Saudi women. People might think it’s controversial but we just think of our stories as being relatable,” says the fearless Alamri. “Reaching puberty is such a critical time in a girl’s life and whatever happens to you at that age, whether it’s negative or positive, it lasts with you when you grow up.

“But I injected humour into my piece so everyone was laughing and quickly forgot about how this might be controversial.”

The aim of these five Saudi filmmakers is not to be controversial for the sake of controversy, she insists. “If we want to talk just about forbidden topics, then it’s easy – but that is not our goal. Our intention is to just be as real as possible and represent us and our people.

“This is the right time for improvement. We didn’t have cinema three years ago, but we studied cinema before that because we believed that one day, sooner or later, it would happen,” says Alamri.

Perhaps the most accomplished of Becoming’s collaborators is Fatima Al-Banawi, who actually made her film debut as lead actress in Saudi romcom and Oscar submission, Barakah Meets Barakah, back in 2015 before Saudi cinemas re-opened.

“People in Saudi literally bought plane tickets so they could watch Barakah in flight because it was screening on Saudi Airlines and other carriers. We simply didn’t have the infrastructure to show films in Saudi until 2018,” she says.

Today, she is behind the camera for her Becoming segment, Until We See the Light, about a divorced mother whose life is a constant struggle; suffering an anxiety attack as she metaphorically tries to break free – trapped in a car with her young son.

Al-Banawi is inspired by many women in film, including Maggie Gyllenhaal whom she met at the Venice Film Festival. “I met her and Jake while she was premiering her first film as a director, The Lost Daughter. I love to speak to other actresses who are also directing, because it’s a whole new conversation about when you chose to act or direct and how crazy do you go with the amount of responsibility you put on your plate,” says the actress/writer/director who is currently working on her feature film debut, Basma, about a complex father daughter relationship in Jeddah.

“I’m not sure whether to play the lead in my own movie or whether that is too much for me to handle while I’m directing too, so I spoke with Maggie about that,” adds Al-Banawi who earned her Master’s at Harvard, studying theology and Islamic studies and representation of women in Arab cinema.

If Saudi Arabia’s rapid change can be put down to economic reasons; no longer able to rely entirely on oil revenue and therefore opening up to tourism and culture, then Al-Banawi doesn’t believe the rationale behind the shift is relevant. “I really don’t care about the reasons. I care that change is happening and that once you have this kind of change, you instill it into the minds and hearts of everyone. We are just grateful for the change. Art is beautiful and universal,” she says.

The Red Sea International Film Festival will run from 6-15 December, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.