The Perfect Candidate: Sundance 2020

Synopsis:

Maryam is an ambitious young doctor working in a small town clinic in Saudi Arabia. Despite her qualifications, she has to earn the respect of male colleagues and acceptance from her patients every day. After Maryam is prevented from traveling to Dubai in search of a better job, a bureaucratic mixup leads her to stumble on the application for her local city elections and she decides to run. With her musician father away on tour playing the first public concerts allowed in the Kingdom in decades, Maryam enlists her two younger sisters to begin fundraising and planning campaign events. While they face the restriction of women’s traditional roles in the Kingdom at every turn, Maryam’s audacious candidacy starts to build momentum and challenges her conservative community. A tight race emerges between Maryam and her male opponent, as Maryam and her family mobilize their determination and creativity to move their traditional society forward.

Official Selection: 2019 Venice Film Festival, 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival 2019 US Release Date: TBD Spring 2020

For more visit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6971114/reference

Main Cast:

Mila Alzahrani: Maryam

Dhay: Selma Khalid Abdulrhim: Abdulaziz

Shafi Al Harthy: Mohammed

Main Crew:

Directed by: Haifaa Al Mansour Written by: Haifaa Al Mansour, Brad Niemann Line Producer: Ole Nicolaisen Production Designer: Olivier Meidinger, ADC - VSK Costume Designer: Heike Fademrecht Makeup Artist: Dorothea Wiedermann Recording Mixer: Uve Haußig Sound Designer: Sebastian Schmidt Re-Recording Mixer: Olaf Mehl Composer: Volker Bertelmann Editor: Andreas Wodraschke, BFS Director of Photography: Patrick Orth Produced by: Roman Paul, Gerhard Meixner, Haifaa Al Mansour, Brad Niemann