Page 42 - Shahrvand BC No. 1257

Shooting on-location served up its own special
round of frustrations. Al Mansour was sometimes
forced to direct the cast and crew over the phone due
to Saudi restrictions on men and women mingling
and working together in public space. Using a
walkie-talkie, she directed certain scenes while
sequestered in the back of a van so she wouldn't be
seen giving orders to her male crew members.
All this stress appears to have paid off and then some.
Along with the critical praise and good buzz, Wadjda
is Saudi Arabia's first-ever entry for best foreign
language film at the Academy Awards. "This is a sign
that things are improving," Al Mansour says. "Pop
culture and music and film are definitely changing in
Saudi." She tells me she is especially reassured by
the fact that "a lot of young Saudi filmmakers make
a lot of short films," such as the 2006 documentary
Cinema 500 km, helmed by director and newspaper
columnist Abdullah Al-Eyaf.
Al Mansour cites the sketch-comedy series Tash
Ma Tash (Saudi Arabia's Saturday Night Live,
essentially) as another encouraging sign, and sees
much hope in the "revolution of information" and
technology that manages to touch even the most
tightly controlled of societies. "When you visit
Saudi, there are beautiful cars, beautiful buildings,
people are courteous—you don't see camels and
donkeys in the street," she says. "And kids have
access to pop culture all the time...When Waad
came to audition [for the role of Wadjda], I wanted
to see if she can sing...So she started singing
Justin Bieber, in beautiful English. She doesn't
speak English; she only speaks Justin Bieber. It's a
different world now."
However great her optimism, Al Mansour doesn't
have any illusions about her home country. "You
cannot do philosophical ideas or question religious
ideas [in your films]—they will not allow that," she
says. "But if you make things that work within the
frame and try to capitalize on the little space you
have, you will find support in Saudi." Her film is
the 39-year-old director's narrative technique of
making a statement "without being radical, and
not being loud." That kind of careful calculation is
precisely what led her to make a bike the central
object in Wadjda's story.
"It's about movement, it's about celebration...[but]
a bicycle is not intimidating. It's a toy," Al Mansour
tells me. "And I know talking about women's rights
is very controversial, so I wanted to give [Saudi
viewers] something that is a little softer, so they
don't shun it right away."
As the eighth of 12 children in a small-town,
middle-class household in east-coast Saudi Arabia,
she grew up watching Hollywood pictures on
video, internalizing the three-act structure and other
standard methods of storytelling. "It was harder
for me to find French cinema, Iranian cinema,
and anything independent, though," she adds. "It's
harder to find, say, an obscure title coming out of
Sundance—there is no place for them."
As for her early American influences, the Coen
Brothers, in particular, made an impression on
a young and hungry Al Mansour. "I liked them
because I liked their dialogue," she says. "I'm not a
big fan of violence, but with them it's okay. They do
it right. They're just very smart in their depiction of The photo's authenticity is contested, but there’s no
human nature...I love A Serious Man, for example.
The quirkiness and all that."
Today, Al Mansour lives in Bahrain with her
American husband and their two kids. For all the
international attention and plaudits she's received
for her groundbreaking new film, she currently has
no intention of taking her eye off the ball. For her
next big project, she already knows where she's
headed.
"Back to Saudi," she says definitively.
‹ English Section
In Germany, clothing is often optional
Getting to the bottom of the country's love of nudity.
Paul Ames
--globalpost.com
GLOWE, Germany — On
a balmy summer day, the
Schaabe looks like a slice
of paradise.
The narrow spit of forest-
covered land is fringed
by a 6-mile beach of fine
white sand lapped by the
deep blue Baltic Sea.
Kids splash in the gentle
surf, couples stroll hand-
in-hand along the shore,
families picnic on herring
and beer, a naked guy
stands in line at the ice-
cream trolley. Basking on the Baltic. (Jens Koehler/AFP/Getty Images)
In fact, there are naked
people all over the place.
This is one of hundreds
of FKK beaches across Germany that are open to
followers of nudism, known here as Freikoerperkultur
— Free Body Culture.
Other countries set aside remote spots for naturists to
indulge in their love of stripping bare. In Germany,
beaches along the Baltic coast tend to let them hang
out alongside those who prefer to cover up with
bermudas or bikinis.
"The beach is suitable for textile followers as well
as FKK fans," says a local tourism website. "Don't
be surprised if you run into nudies as you head along
your way."
Naturism is big for Germans. Around 1 in 10 take a
naked vacation at least once a year, according to Kurt
Fischer, president of German Association for Free
Body Culture.
Lately, however, nudism has been getting some
additional exposure with the circulation of a photo
purporting to show a young Angela Merkel and a
couple of friends out for a waterside stroll in the buff. Germany's love of going au naturale dates back to
doubt that naturism was popular in East Germany
when Merkel — who’s expected to stay on as
chancellor after elections later this month — was
growing up there in the 1960s and '70s.
Tolerated by the Communist authorities, stripping off
became a way for East Germans to commune with
nature and break with the regime’s conformity. The
DDR Museum dedicated to showing daily life in
East Germany in Berlin has exhibits illustrating the
role nudism played there — with dioramas depicting
naked sunbathing and volleyball.
Even today, naturism is more widespread in eastern
resorts like Glowe, on the holiday island of Ruegen,
which is part of the district Chancellor Merkel
represents in parliament.
"It's famous here, so you know you are going to see
naked people on the beach," says Benjamin Mueller,
on vacation from Munich. "I'm not sure so many
people from where I'm from would be happy with
seeing the nudists, but they are more tolerant here."
Although Mueller isn’t a dedicated nudist, he and his
companion decided it was more practical to have a
non-textile day at the end of their vacation rather than
get their swimming costumes wet and sandy before
their long drive home.
In the years after Germany's reunification, some
eastern Germans blamed priggish westerners for
imposing restrictions on areas were nudism was
allowed along the Baltic coast.
But even in western Germany, attitudes toward public
nudity are more relaxed than in most countries. Polls
show Germans bare all on vacation more than any
other Europeans.
42
42
1392 ‫ رویرهش‬29 ‫ جمعه‬- 1257 ‫ شماره‬/ ‫سال متسیب‬
In relatively conservative Munich, naked sunbathers In touch with Iranian diversity
appear in parts of the city's famed Englischer Garten
park on summer days, as in the Tiergarten in downtown
Berlin, and green areas of other cities.
Foreign visitors are often surprised to discover
that saunas in German hotels are co-ed and naked.
Wearing trunks or swimsuits is considered unhygienic
and prudish foreigners may be asked to take them off.
Although nudist tradition in Germany rejects any
sexual connotations of nakedness, the FKK name has
been hijacked by sex clubs that have sprung up since
the legalization of prostitution in the country in 2002.
"Unfortunately, the word FKK was not protected by
our movement," Fischer says. "Anybody can use the
word for their own purpose. This has resulted in sex
clubs, swinger clubs, sex orgies, prostitution — all
being able to use the word FKK. For us naturists in
Germany, this means we have to convince people that
we are not part of this."
Vol. 20 / No. 1257 - Friday, Sept. 20, 2013
the days of the Kaisers. In the late 19th century, when
most of Europe was still shocked by the glimpse of
an ankle, a back-to-nature movement growing up in
Germany promoted the health benefits of running
through forests and plunging into chilly lakes with
nothing on.
The first nudist camp opened near Hamburg in 1903.
The concept took hold and a flourishing naturist
culture developed. The Nazis had an ambiguous
approach, at times banning it as decadent, at others
tolerating it as a celebration of the Aryan body.
Nudism took off again after World War II.
The Free Body Culture association now has around
45,000 members, but an estimated 12 million Germans
get naked in public at least once a year.
"I am almost 50 years a naturist," says Fischer, the
association's president. "But I'm not obsessive about
nakedness at all times. For me, nudity is part of my
free time and vacation planning. I'm naked in our
nudist sports park, but rarely at home."
German attitudes may be changing, however: the
younger generation appears less enthusiastic about
baring all on the beach. Fischer says membership is
declining by about 2 percent a year.
Germany's declining birth rate — and a growing
immigrant population, which is generally less keen
on nudism — are also blamed for the decline.
As German nudists become more likely to be gray and
wrinkled, Fischer blames the growth of materialism.
"Society has changed," he says. "People are now
defined by their appearance and the concept that
‘naked we are all equal’ is hardly winning out."