Editor's Introduction: Middle Eastern Media Available to Purchase

The year 2012 marked a first in Saudi Arabia's media history. The first feature film entirely shot in Saudi Arabia, where there are no cinemas, was released that year. It was written and directed by a woman: Haifaa Al-Mansour. Wadjda (2012) tells the story of a rebellious ten-year-old girl who wishes to buy a bicycle in a culture where women are not encouraged to cycle due to religious views that regard riding a bike as tantamount to losing one's virginity. The story focuses on the heroine's bid to enter a Qur'an-reading competition at her school in order to secure the money necessary to purchase the “forbidden” item. But within its own social and political context, the film itself is essentially forbidden: Al-Mansour had to shoot it while hiding in a van and giving directorial orders through a walkie-talkie, as women and men are not expected to work together in public...