Saudi Arabia’s Fatima Al-Banawi Set For Feature Debut With ‘Basma’ (EXCLUSIVE)

BAFTA Dates 2023 Film Awards, Berlin Clash

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Locarno Film Festival will pay tribute to Greek-French director Costa-Gavras with its Pardo alla carriera lifetime achievement award.The longtime Paris-based master of politically engaged cinema will be on hand at the prominent Swiss fest dedicated to indie filmmaking to receive the prize during a ceremony on its Piazza Grande square on Aug. 11 followed by an audience-led conversation the next day.Locarno will also host screenings of two of Costa Gravras’ lesser known films: “Un homme de trop” (“Shock Troops”) from 1967, and “Compartiment tueurs” (“The Sleeping Car Murders”), which is his 1965 debut feature.In a career spanning nearly 60 years, Costa-Gavras — which is short for Konstantinos Gavras — has become known for highly political works, such as 1969’s “Z,” about the military’s coup d’etat in Greece, which won the foreign film Oscar in 1969; and 1982’s “Missing,” which starred Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek in a story inspired by the military overthrow of Chilean President Salvador Allende.

Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson today announced he will return to golf in LIV Golf’s London tournament this Thursday. “Lefty,” as he is known, took a four-month break after remarks he made about the PGA and Saudi Arabia.

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Primetime Emmy nominee David Oyelowo will star opposite Kaley Cuoco in the Studiocanal and Picture Company high-concept thriller Role Play, which we hear will roll cameras in four weeks in Berlin. We also hear that Amazon Prime Video is in final talks to take the US and several major offshore territories.

Saudi Arabia is getting its own version of “The Office.”“Al Maktab,” the name of the Saudi Arabian version, will span 20 episodes. MBC Studios is producing the show, after making a deal with BBC Studios, which licenses the franchise.The new version, which begins production in June, is set at a courier company.It will star Saleh Abuamrh, who will play the boss – Malik Al-Tuwaifi.

The Office is set to air later this year.BBC Studios recently struck a deal with local producer and broadcaster MBC, who will air the new show via streamer Shahid VIP.The new remake will be called Al Maktab and will be directed by Egyptian filmmaker Hisham Fathi, according to Deadline.The self-absorbed boss played by Ricky Gervais in the UK version and Steve Carell in the US remake will be played by Saleh Abuamrh in Al Maktab, and is called Malik Al-Tuwaif.So far, The Office has been remade in 10 territories including France, Germany, Canada and India. Al Maktab will be the first in the Arabic language.André Renaud, BBC Studios’ SVP Format Sales, said in a statement: “Although office working may look slightly different for many of us in 2022, the familiarity of these well-observed characters as they navigate petty rivalries, moments of friendship and humour, and a boss that sometimes makes a fool of themselves still rings just as true.”Meanwhile, several cast members of The Office revealed they were “almost killed twice” while filming episode ‘Work Bus’. Actors Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, who play Pam Beesley and Angela Martin in the US sitcom, recalled the incident in their new book The Office BFFs: Tales Of The Office From Two Best Friends Who Were There.The episode, directed by Breaking Bad actor Bryan Cranston, saw Dwight (Rainn Wilson) convert a bus into an office space after Jim (John Krasinski) convinces him the office building is unsafe.In an excerpt from the book on Mashable, Kinsey wrote: “We want you to know that we see the irony that Bryan Cranston, aka Walter White Sr.

Emilio Mayorga Pedro Almodóvar has put his considerable weight behind Spaniard Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s first feature,”Lullaby” (“Cinco Lobitos”) as it has initiated a spirited run at Spain’s box office.“It is undoubtedly the best debut in Spanish cinema for years,” Almodóvar announced in a statement, describing the mother-daughter relationship drama as “a portrait of the role of women within the family, which is truthful, devoid of sentimentality and that does not exclude humor.”“Life could offer another destiny for women other than caring for the whole family. [The film offers] very accurate interpretations, where Laia Costa stands out and I suppose will sweep all this year’s awards.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentSaudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding Telfaz11 Studios is teaming up with France’s Easy Riders Films to develop and produce a slate of four features directed by emerging Saudi talents with international ambitions.The first title expected to go into production is “Night Courier,” a comedy about a young man named Fahad who winds up in possession of six crates of illicit booze in an Arab city known for its hidden delights and dangers. This project was first presented last year at the inaugural Red Sea Film Festival’s Red Sea Souk projects market.The four-picture pact between Telfaz11 and Easy Riders was forged at the Cannes Film Festival.Founded by Alaa Yousef Fadan, Ali Al Kalthami, and Ibrahim Al Khairallah, Telfaz11 is an innovative content company that started out in the YouTube space and has since seen rapid growth in both production and distribution.

Emilio Mayorga “The Once and Future,” a hybrid project directed by Yeo Siew Hua winner of Locarno’s top prize in 2018 with “A Land Imagined,” will open at the upcoming Singapore Festival of Arts (SIFA).Edson Sidonie’s Buenos Aires-based Bikini Films and Roger García’s General Film Services in the U:S: have teamed for this multi-platform  project which will be made as a feature, opera and performance show.Announced as an “expanded cinema experience,” the story is set in the  near future, when the planet has become unsustainable and humankind prepares for a planetary exodus to escape extinction.Unable to withstand the voyage, people must leave their bodies behind and upload the totality of human experiences into something called The Labyrinth. The human race is finally just one.

Zeinab Abu Alsamh has only been general manager of MBC Studios Saudi Arabia for a year but with the blazing speed at which the local industry is growing, she says it has felt more like five.

Radiohead side-project The Smile debuted a new song called ‘Bodies Laughing’ during a recent show in Berlin – check out the footage below.The trio – comprising Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner – are currently out on a European headline tour in support of their debut album ‘A Light For Attracting Attention’, which came out earlier this month.Last Friday (May 20) saw The Smile perform an unreleased number as part of a 16-track set at the German capital’s Tempodrom venue (via Setlist.FM).Footage of the first ‘Bodies Laughing’ airing has since emerged online. “So, yesterday we wrote another new song,” Yorke told the crowd.

Saudi Arabia has taken another step in its push to become a movie production hub by launching its long-awaited 40% cash rebate to grow the local economy.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Saudi Film Commission has announced its long gestating incentive for film productions in the kingdom which consists of an up to 40% cash rebate.Ever since it lifted its 35-year-old religion-related ban on cinema in 2017, Saudi has been experiencing a boom in all aspects of film industry activity,  becoming West Asia’s top-grossing territory in terms of theatrical box office returns. Attracting international film and TV productions is clearly a key part of this government-driven effort.Details of the Saudi rebate, which was announced in Cannes, remain scant besides the fact that it provides up to 40% of spend in cash back for film productions that recruit Saudi crew and talent above and below the line and feature the kingdom’s “culture, history and people along with showcasing the diverse selection of landscapes in Saudi Arabia,” a statement said.

EXCLUSIVE: Leonine Studios has taken worldwide rights to German-Norwegian thriller series The Seed (working title), which is set around the explosive takeover of a seed company and comes from Chameleon writer Christian Jeltsch.