SAUDI ARABIA HOSTS ITS FIRST FILM FESTIVAL IN DECADES

Eyeing a lucrative new industry, Saudi Arabia hosted its first major film festival this month, less than four years after lifting a decades-long ban on cinemas. The stars gathered on the red carpet in Jeddah for the first Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF). The historical event was dubbed to be a landmark moment for cinema in the Kingdom by the RSIFF Chairman Mohammed Al-Turki.

The red carpet was graced by actors, celebrities, filmmakers and officials including supermodel Naomi Campbell, British actor Ed Westwick, Spanish actor Maria Pedraza, writer Pedro Paula Araujo, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, and a number of actors from the region including Basem Khayat, Hend Sabri, Maysa Maghrabi, Ahd Kamel, Dhafer Labidine and Yasmine Sabri.

The 10 day long festival showcased a total of 138 long and short films from 67 countries in more than 30 languages. According to festival organizers, 38 percent of the 138 films were by female filmmakers, a fact that further underlines the growth in female cinema talent in the local industry of the Kingdom. “It’s very important for Saudi cinema; we’ve discovered many new, young talents. I’m very optimistic and I’m sure that this will become one of the more important cinema festivals in the world,” said the chairman of the film festival.

It estimates the kingdom’s forecast population of nearly 40 million could absorb up to 2,600 cinema screens. The festival started a day after Jeddah hosted its first Formula One Grand Prix, also an attempt to portray Saudi Arabia in a different light.