What Walaa Wants

Christy Garland
2018 | 89 min, 59 min
A MURMUR MEDIA, FINAL CUT FOR REAL, NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA CO-PRODUCTION

Selections and Awards

Official Selection – Generation 14+ ProgramBerlin International Film Festival, Berlin, Germany (2018)
Shortlisted Nominee – Glashütte Prize and Amnesty Film AwardBerlin International Film Festival, Berlin, Germany (2018)
Official SelectionTIFF CANADA’S TOP 10, Toronto, Canada (2018)
Nominated – Best Feature Length DocumentaryCanadian Screen Awards, Toronto, Canada (2019)
Nominated – Best Cinematography in a DocumentaryCanadian Screen Awards, Toronto, Canada (2019)
Nominated – Best Editing in a Feature DocumentaryCanadian Screen Awards, Toronto, Canada (2019)
Nominated – Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary DGC Awards, Toronto, Canada (2018)
Special Jury Prize – Canadian Feature Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, Toronto, Canada (2018)
WIFTV Award for Artistic Merit Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver, Canada (2018)
Hilal Best Feature Award Ajyal Film Festival – Doha Film Institute, Qatar (2018)
Margaret Mead Filmmaker AwardMargaret Mead Film Festival, AMNH, New York, USA (2018)
Best Documentary FeatureForest City Film Festival, London, Ontario, Canada (2018)
Opening Film – Official SelectionRIDM – Montreal International Documentary Festival, Montreal, Canada (2018)
Official SelectionMelbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne, Australia (2018)
Official Selection, Best of Fests ProgrammeIDFA – International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, The Netherlands (2018)
Official SelectionGöteborg Film Festival, Göteborg, Sweden (2018)

Raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank while her mother was in prison, Walaa dreams of becoming a policewoman in the Palestinian Security Forces (PSF). Despite discouragement from her family, even her beloved brother Mohammed, Walaa applies and gets in. But her own rebellious behaviour and complicated relationship with her mother are challenging, as are the circumstances under which she lives.

Following Walaa from 15-21, with an intimate POV, What Walaa Wants is the compelling story of a defiant young girl navigating formidable obstacles, learning which rules to break and follow, and disproving the negative predictions from her surroundings and the world at large.

Short Synopsis

Raised in a refugee camp in the West Bank while her mother was in an Israeli prison, Walaa is determined to become one of the few women in the Palestinian Security Forces—not easy for a girl who breaks all the rules. Following Walaa from the ages of 15 to 21 with an intimate POV, What Walaa Wants tells the compelling story of a defiant young girl who navigates formidable obstacles, disproving the negative predictions from her surroundings and the world at large.

Logline

Raised in a West Bank refugee camp while her mother was in prison, Walaa is determined to become a policewoman in the Palestinian Security Forces—not easy for a girl who breaks all the rules.

Director's Notes

“She’s a delinquent in a hijab. If she does make it into the PSF, she’ll be a rotten, bad cop.”

That’s a pretty damning condemnation of a 16-year-old girl. I’d shown the trailer for What Walaa Wants to a colleague, and that was the reaction. That comment was a gift, a motivating force for the film, and a challenge to my own assumptions. It focused my rationale for making the film and my belief in Walaa. It made clear how polarizing this story of a young teenage girl might be. The presence of her mother, Latifa, will provoke very different reactions. But Walaa is a teenager with a good heart and the same potential for positive growth and change as any other young person.

I’m making this film because it’s a positive, humorous, rousing story, with a focus on a great female character with some rough edges who’s battling demons (and negative expectations) on various levels; an intimate story that will resonate in a larger context. Walaa’s story will add something to the conversation. She’s smart, funny, yearning for something, and vulnerable, but she’s inherited her mother’s temper and can be a royal pain in the ass. I love her for all of it, and I’m rooting for her as a human being, a girl who is interesting because she breaks rules, and because there are some rules she’s learning to follow, the hard way.

Credits

PRINCIPAL CAST

Walaa Khaled Fawzy Tanji
Latifa Abu Draa

Director
Christy Garland

Editors
Michael Aaglund
Graeme Ring

Editing Consultants
Molly Malene Stensgaard
Janus Billeskov Jansen

Cinematography & Location Sound
Christy Garland

Producers
Anne Köhncke
Matt Code
Christy Garland
Justine Pimlott

Production Coordinator & Translator
Ekram Zubaydi

Executive Producers
Signe Byrge Sørensen
Anita Lee
Waël Kabbani
Penny Charter

Composer
Tom Third

Sound Designers
Peter Schultz
Cosmo Tone

Colourist
Anders V. Christensen
Kong Gulerod Film

Post-production Manager
Maria Kristensen

A:
MURMUR MEDIA
FINAL CUT FOR REAL
NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA
CO-PRODUCTION

IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
Doha Film Institute
Iambic Dream Films
DR
UR

WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF:
The ONTARIO MEDIA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
CAVCO – THE CANADIAN FILM OR VIDEO PRODUCTION TAX CREDIT
GOVERNMENT OF ONTARIO FILM AND TELEVISION TAX CREDIT PROGRAM

SUPPORTED BY:
Danish Film Institute
Danida (Danish Foreign Ministry)
Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund
with support from the Oath Foundation
Toronto Arts Council

Press Relations

Jennifer Mair
NFB Publicist – Toronto
C.: 416-436-0105
j.mair@nfb.ca | @NFB_Jennifer

About the NFB

The NFB is Canada’s public producer and distributor of award-winning documentaries, auteur animation, interactive stories and participatory experiences, working with talented creators across the country. The NFB is taking action to combat systemic racism and become a more open and diverse organization, while working to strengthen Indigenous-led production and gender equity in film and digital media. NFB productions have won more than 7,000 awards, including 12 Oscars. To access this unique content, visit NFB.ca.