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Saudi Arabia Scores First Cannes Official Selection Slot With Drama ‘Norah,’ Set When Art Was Banned
Saudi Arabia has scored its first Cannes official selection slot with groundbreaking drama 'Norah' set in the 1990s when all forms of art were banned.
The film’s titular character, played by Saudi newcomer Maria Bahrawi, is an illiterate orphaned young woman who lives in a remote village where she faces an arranged marriage in which she will be trapped and has a need for self expression. She intersects with an artist named Nader, played by Saudi star Yaqoub Alfarhan (“Rashash”), who has given up painting and moved to the village to be a schoolteacher. Global rights to the film were acquired in December by a new company launched in Riyadh by former Universal Pictures exec Paul Chesney called TwentyOne Entertainment.
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