Middle East Film Execs Talks Challenges, Opportunities In Saudi Arabia At Red Sea Film Festival

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the first titles selected for its Panorama section at the upcoming in-person edition that takes place February 16-26. (Scroll down for the full list)

It’s 2002 and raining brains in Riyadh, at least from the gormless Nasser’s wonky perspective. Nasser’s doctor is firmly convinced he has a brain tumour, which is his explanation for the protracted hallucinations Nasser experiences and that he, Dr Ahmed, is all too ready to excise. Nasser isn’t so sure: his dreams, fantasies and visions are more fun than the rest of his life, yoked beneath the twin tyrannies of his fanatical father and his boss at the thinly patronized Dove Hotel. Why get rid of the good stuff? Especially once those visions start to include the mysterious young woman who arrived unannounced one day to ask for the key to room 227. She’s welcome to walk the corridors of his mind any old time.

Iraqi filmmaker Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji picked up the Golden Yusr for Best Feature Film at the Red Sea Film Festival with his debut feature Hanging Gardens.

Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund is poised to launch a new $233m ($879m Saudi Riyal) film industry financing program in the first quarter of 2023, which will be open to both local and international entities.

Jackie Chan made a rare on-stage appearance at the Red Sea Film Festival Thursday, where he told fans that he is currently in talks to make a fourth Rush Hour movie.

Antonio Banderas’s latest film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, screened at the Red Sea Film Festival this week, and the actor told the festival audience that he believes his animated feline is likely to return to the big screen in a fifth Shrek movie.

An unwieldy crowd rushed the stage and frequently broke out in song as Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor discussed his life and career during one of the final ‘In Conversation’ sessions at the Red Sea Film Festival Wednesday.

Writer and stand-up comedian Mo Amer was the latest Hollywood name to pass through Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea film festival Wednesday where he discussed his varied career as part of the festival’s ‘In Conversation’ series and the potential of a second season of his well-received Netflix comedy Mo.

Director, screenwriter and producer Fatih Akin passed through the Red Sea film festival Monday where he discussed his career and what he described as the unique experience of straddling Turkish and German culture in his films.

It was two days after director Adil El Arbi’s wedding in Morocco when he and his co-director Bilall Fallah got the call that their recently wrapped $70M film Batgirl would be shelved as part of a cost-saving move for Warner Bros Discovery under David Zaslav’s new regime. 

Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla, the film agency of the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU), has announced the start of construction of the first phase of its new ambitious studio complex.

As Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival kicks into gear in Jeddah, a parallel film program is underway 300 miles north in the small desert town of AlUla.

Andrew Dominik shared his thoughts on the unexpected backlash against his Marylin Monroe drama Blonde during an In-Conversation event at the Red Sea International Film Festival on Sunday.

Spike Lee is at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival in the port city of Jeddah this weekend to present a screening of his Oscar-nominated 1992 epic biopic Malcolm X and participate in an In-Conversation event.

Saudi Arabia’s emerging fashion design labels have been making their red carpet world premiere over the past few days at the Red Sea International Film Festival, running December 1-10 in the port city of Jeddah.

Bollywood megastar Akshay Kumar revealed that he is making a feature on the theme of sex education that he hopes to release next spring during an In-Conversation event at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival on Saturday.