What Walaa Wants

For 5 years Christy Garland filmed a young woman who was dealt a bad hand at the start – born in a Palestinian refugee camp, abandoned by her father and with her mother in prison until Walaa was 15. It’s no surprise that she grew up to be a rebel with a complicated relationship with the authorities. Nonetheless, or maybe because of this, she decided to join the Palestinian Civil Police Force. She learned to respect rules, to endure extreme physical hardship and, most importantly, to fight for her ideals. The film not only provides a unique testimony about a unique heroine – a young Palestinian feminist – but also shows how the Palestinian “police academy” functions in all shades of its rigour.

This film will be screened during the One world / Jeden svět festival.