Haifaa Al-Mansour (Wadjda, Mary Shelley), Saudi Arabia’s first woman director has teamed up with ShadowMachine to produce an animate film about female empowerment, Miss Camel.

ShadowMachine is the animation studio behind Netflix’s Bojack Horseman and Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken. Al-Mansour and ShadowMachine will develop and produce this new project, they told Deadline that they are “excited to be collaborating on such a fun project.” UTA will the animated film.

The story will follow Saudi teen, Hayla, who will do anything to escape her arranged marriage, so she may attend an art school in a neighbouring Gulf state. Her ambition leads her to a startling discovery, she can talk to animals.

Last December, the project won the IWC Filmmaker Award at the Dubai International Film Festival. The jury, headed by Cate Blanchett, picked Miss Camel as the price winner.

Al-Mansour’s latest film, Mary Shelley, is set to hit theatres May 25th. The film follows a young Mary Shelley before she becomes the renowned author that gave us Frankenstein. She is also currently in post-production on Netflix rom-com Nappily Ever After, led by Sanaa Lathan.

Announced last week, Al-Mansour will be one of three women on 13-member board of the country’s General Authority for Culture who will oversee the cultural and artistic development in Saudi Arabia. Al-Mansour is making moves to ensure that women filmmakers have a voice in the industry, and have much to contribute.

Source: Deadline.