ALKHOBAR, 23 October 2006 — Lady Bridget Cowper-Coles, wife of the UK’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, was the guest of honor at the British Council’s Alumni Sahoor reception held at the Carlton Al-Moaibed Hotel. This is the third year that such an evening was organized by the British Council Women’s Center in Dammam.
The reception is not only an event for networking among talented women, but also a chance for the alumni and guests to discuss a topic of high interest. This year’s speaker was Haifa Al-Mansour, the first and still the only Saudi female film director in the Kingdom. Even though it has been several years since she first burst upon the Saudi arts scene, Al-Mansour is still as controversial as ever. Al-Mansour has won awards in international festivals such as the Golden Dagger for Best Documentary at the Muscat Film Festival.
Lina Chawki, branch manager of the British Council in the Eastern Province, stated that while it is always a pleasure to congratulate such distinguished guests and friends during the holy month of Ramadan, she also looks forward to hearing the exchange of views throughout the evening.
“It was an excellent and fruitful gathering with discussion and professional networking between UK alumni and women from the business and academic communities of the Eastern Province,” said Chawki.
Al-Mansour’s comments were quite captivating for the entire audience. She spoke about her personal experiences of making independent films around Saudi Arabia on a limited budget. She presented as well the current cultural atmosphere in regards to Saudi cinema and gave some insight as to how people react to Saudi film productions. Al-Mansour also shared her thoughts on how filmmaking in the Kingdom could be encouraged, even though cinemas are still prohibited in Saudi Arabia. A very spirited question-and-answer session followed the presentation.
