The Perfect Candidate
Haifaa Al Mansour
Haifaa Al Mansour (Wadjda) portrays a young woman in Saudi Arabia who struggles to achieve her goals with courage and humour.
Maryam is a doctor in a small town. Every day she gets annoyed about the state of the road in front of her hospital, which she has to drive along to get to work. In the hospital, the lack of respect she is shown makes her angry. She applies for a job in Dubai, but is unable to go because of a formality. She asks a cousin for help, but he is only receiving candidates willing to stand for the local elections. Maryam promptly decides to stand as a candidate herself. It is the start of a turbulent election campaign which she masters with the help of her sisters.