WORLD PREMIERE: BERLINALE FILM FESTIVAL 2018
What Walaa Wants
Raised in a refugee camp while her mother was in prison, Walaa is determined to survive bootcamp to become one of the few women on the Palestinian Security Forces - a big challenge for a girl who breaks all the rules.
What Walaa Wants has been named one of TIFF’s Top Ten Films in Canada 2018. It had a theatrical release across Canada in 2019, and an extensive theatrical run in Spain 2019.
What Walaa Wants was nominated for 3 Canadian Screen Awards (Best Feature Doc, Best Editing and Best Cinematography) and garnered 5 awards: Hot Docs Canadian Feature Special Jury Prize, Margaret Mead Filmmaker Award, Vancouver IFF WIFT-V Award for Artistic Merit, Forest City Film Festival Best Documentary , and the Doha Film Institute’s Ajyal Film Festival Hilal Best Feature Film Award. It has been nominated for the DGC Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking and was one of only 18 films (out of 110 documentaries) to be nominated for the Glashütte Documentary Prize in Berlin, and was also one of 12 to be nominated for the Amnesty Film Award.
After a world premiere at the Berlinale 2018, What Walaa Wants has traveled to over 70 festivals and still running, including : Hot Docs Canadian Int. Film Festival - Edinburgh Int. Film Festival - Melbourne International Film Festival - Margaret Mead Film Festival - RIDM Montreal (Opening Night Film) - IDFA (Best of Fests) - Doha Film Institute Ajyal Film Festival
“Documentaries for children and young viewers are rare in Germany but completely normal – and often masterworks of the genre - in Scandinavia and the Netherlands. And so it is no coincidence that the films CERES and WHAT WALAA WANTS were produced there. As in her earlier films Canadian director Christy Garland manages to develop an exciting plot in a documentary format. Hopefully, this longitudinal study will have a sequel.”
- Director: Christy Garland
- Producers Anne Köhncke - FINAL CUT FOR REAL, DENMARK
- Production Co-ordinator: Ekram Zubaydi
Matt Code - Wildling Pictures - CANADA
Christy Garland - MURMUR MEDIA, CANADA
National Film Board of Canada - Justine Pimlott
- Supported by:
- National Film Board of Canada
- Danish Film Institute
- Danish Foreign Ministry / DANIDA
- Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund (AOL Charitable Foundation Award)
- Ontario Creates Film Fund
- Produced in association with:
- DR
- UR
- Executive Producers: Signe Byrge Sørensen, Anita Lee, Iambic Dream Films and Penny Charter