Front Row Takes MENA Distribution for Saudi Drama ‘Norah’ in Competition at Red Sea Fest (EXCLUSIVE)

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Muvi Studios, the production arm of Saudi Arabia’s leading exhibition chain Muvi Cinemas, is ramping up production of Arabic movies with plans to release 10 titles spawned by its own pipeline in 2024, starting with comedy “Esabet Azeema” that will bow locally on Jan. 4. “Esabet Azeema,” which toplines Egyptian icon Esaad Younis making her hotly anticipated return to the big screen, is part of a co-production pact that Muvi struck in 2022 with prominent Egyptian studio Al Arabia Cinema.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabian thriller “Mandoob,” about a struggling man who becomes an illegal booze runner, beat “Wonka” over the weekend to top the Saudi box office chart while also scoring the biggest opening to date for a local film in the territory. The groundbreaking Saudi movie, which world-premiered positively in Toronto in September – and more recently bowed regionally at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah – tallied 114,000 admissions and a $1.58 million gross box office intake following its Dec.

A popular star of Hindi films for a decade with over 80 million Instagram followers, Alia Bhatt, best known internationally for her 2022 double Gangubai Kathiawadi and RRR, has fast become one of India’s hottest exports. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rising Saudi Arabian star Yaqoub Alfarhan, who is known for playing the titular drug trafficker and serial killer in hit MBC TV series “Rashash,” plays a very different role in the drama “Norah” by pioneering Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi, which is set in 1990s Saudi Arabia when conservatism was at its height and all forms of art and painting were banned for religion-related reasons. In “Norah,” which world premiered at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Alfarhan plays an artist named Nader who has given up painting and moved to a remote village to be a schoolteacher. There he intersects with this film’s titular character, played by Saudi newcomer Maria Bahrawi.

Nicolas Cage doesn’t really care if you know he’s related to Francis Ford Coppola. 

Andrew Garfield shared insights into his early days in Hollywood, experiences working on the Spider-Man franchise and thoughts about Red Sea International Festival Festival during his masterclass at the festival today. 

“Entrepreneurship and acting are very similar. Both require the same kind of energy,” Goop CEO and Academy Award-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow told a crowd during a career retrospective this evening at the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Egyptian-Austrian director Abu Bakr Shawky, who in 2018 made a splash when his first feature “Yomeddine” had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes, is back on the festival circuit with Saudi-set adventure movie “Hajjan.” Shawky’s big-budget epic follow-up, which launched from Toronto’s Discovery section, is now premiering regionally at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, where it screened Monday to roaring applause as an out-of-competition gala. Somewhat similarly to “Yomeddine” – which involved the desert voyage of a leper, a donkey and a child – “Hajjan” also involves a journey across the desert.

Post-pandemic audiences are much more open to different cultures, thanks to streaming and exposure to new types of content, but some of the world’s biggest film industries are still figuring out how to adapt in a rapidly changing landscape, said speakers on the ‘Cinematic Crossovers’ panel in Red Sea Souk. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning filmmakers have formed a trade organisation called Film Association in an effort to hold sway in regulations being laid out for the country’s booming film industry. The Saudi Film Association, announced during the ongoing Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, comes five years after the government removed its 35-year-old religion-related ban on cinemas.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Succession” star Hiam Abbass will play a role that is the polar opposite of Marcia Roy in French-Lebanese director Danielle Arbid’s age-gap drama “Love Conquers All.” The Palestinian actor — who in the HBO series played the third and final wife of billionaire Logan Roy — will next star as Susan, a 65-year-old impoverished widow living in Beirut. There, she meets Osman, a young Sudanese immigrant worker without papers. They instantly fall in love.

Nick Holdsworth For the producers of an international co-production about Palestinian refugees in Athens the Hamas attack on Israel Oct. 7 and subsequent bombardment and invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces looked as if it might derail the project.

MBC Studios is developing a series adaptation of popular Saudi writer Osamah Almuslim’s best-selling debut horror novel Khawf (Fear).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region indie distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment is promoting company execs Nicolas Torloting, Carine Chaiban and Elie Touma to partners as it ramps up operations. The trio joined the company, headed by Gianluca Chakra, in early 2019 as part of an initial revamp.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Young Saudi director Meshal Al Jaser, who springs from the country’s vibrant YouTube scene, is making a splash with his madcap feature debut “Naga,” in which a young woman named Sara goes on a date and takes drugs in the desert. She then must overcome various obstacles, including a rabid camel, to get home before the curfew set by her punishment-prone father. Produced by Saudi’s prominent Telfaz11 production company in tandem with Netflix, “Naga” marks the first Saudi film selected for Toronto’s Midnight Madness program and is now premiering locally to ravishing response at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah.

The Pentagon has said an American warship and multiple commercial ships have come under attack Sunday in the Red Sea. 

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor It’s a busy year for the Red Sea Souk, the market arm of the Red Sea Film Festival dedicated to discovering new Arab and African talent. The same could have been said of every year of the market’s three-year history, however, with Saudi Arabia’s lightning-fast film industry solidifying the Souk as the principal film market for the Middle East and North Africa. The third edition of the Souk, taking place between Dec.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Kidnap thriller “Fourth Wall” and romance story “Chasing Red” are the first two titles to be shot at Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla as part of its partnership with Hollywood indie Stampede Ventures. The film entity, which is looking to attract international productions to a spectacular swathe of northwest Saudi, recently announced its partnership with Stampede Ventures that will bring 10 productions to the region over the next three years with a projected $350 million spend. Stampede is headed by U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Netflix has boarded Saudi Arabian multi-hyphenate Fatima Al-Banawi’s feature film debut “Basma” which tackles the theme of mental illness in her country. The groundbreaking film is set in Jeddah, the city on the Red Sea’s eastern shore where Saudi’s Red Sea Film Festival is currently underway.

Halle Berry and Gwyneth Paltrow are among the high-profile names that have been added to the popular ‘In-Conversation’ sidebar section at the third edition of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. Scroll down for the full list of attendees.