Saudi Arabian Filmmakers Form Trade Association to Hold Sway in Booming Sector Regulations

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.

Saudi director Ali Kalthami’s thriller Night Courier (Mandoob) has posted a record-breaking opening at home, generating 114,000 admissions for a $1.58 million gross to beat Warner Bros. blockbuster Wonka.

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.

Georgina Rodríguez and Cristiano Ronaldo took a trip to the desert of Saudi Arabia, which offers breathtaking landscapes.

Metallica played their first ever show in Saudi Arabia this week – check out fan-filmed footage below.The metal icons performed at the Soundstorm festival in Riyadh on Thursday (December 14) in their final show of 2023, running through a 16-song setlist including hits such as ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’, ‘Master Of Puppets’ and ‘Enter Sandman’.When it was announced on November 27, Metallica’s performance was billed as the first ever show from a major international heavy metal act in the country, but technical death metal band Cryptopsy got there first when they played in Riyadh on December 1.Check out fan-filmed footage and view the setlist below:METALLICA LIVE AT RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIAA dream came true

Caroline Brew editor Director Abdulelah Alqurashi sat down with Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay at Variety’s Artisans Screening Series to break down his film “Alhamour H.A.,” Saudi Arabia’s official Oscars submission. The film is based on the true story of one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest con artists, a former security guard named Hamed who grows rich by convincing people to make dubious investments. Alqurashi lived in Jedda as a banker while the scam was happening.

Paris Fury has shared a look inside the family's incredible winter break to Saudi Arabia. Paris and Tyson are taking some time for themselves ahead of Christmas, after a busy year for the latter with boxing, and for them both following the arrival of baby Rico, whom they welcomed in September.Tyson, 35, and Paris, 33, were joined by friends as the group of 14 boarded a huge private jet to their destination.The couple are also parents to Venezuela, 13, Prince John James, 11, Prince Tyson II, seven, Valencia, five, Prince Adonis Amaziah, four and Athena, two. While on holiday, the family decided to sign up to a hair-raising session of parasailing across the crystal clear Red Sea.

Michael Nordine author Greed may not be good, but it is universal. And while America would appear to have a monopoly on movies about the pursuit of wealth for wealth’s sake, plenty of other nations have exported their version of the rags-to-riches tale — of which Saudi Arabia’s Oscar submission, “Alhamour H.A.,” is just the latest.

Nick Holdsworth An “eco-system” of finance, lending and talent development is driving the creation of Saudi Arabia’s nascent film industry, key figures in the Middle Eastern kingdom’s cultural sector said this week. Speaking during the third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Abdullah Alkhaldi, chief investment and credit officer at Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund, said its aim was to be “the financial enabler in pursuing and achieving a cultural vision.” The fund, which launched two years ago, has $152 million available for lending to cultural projects along with a $80 million Film Investment Fund, which was announced in Cannes last May.

There were a bunch of Hollywood A-List stars in Saudi Arabia today for the closing night gala of the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival!

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.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic The urge to dazzle can be its own straitjacket, and it’s one that weighs heavily on Meshal Aljaser’s feature debut “Naga.” He aims for a hurtling virtuosity, à la “Run Lola Run,” in depicting a disobedient young Saudi woman’s extreme travails in trying to get home before her strict curfew. But that quarter-century-old German thriller’s simplicity of plot supported its hyperbolic style, while here the writer-director is so preoccupied with camera and editorial calisthenics, nothing else has a chance to come into focus.

“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.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region distribution rights to groundbreaking Saudi drama “Norah,” which world premiered in competition at the Red Sea Film Festival. Directed by pioneering Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi, making his feature film debut, “Norah” 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.

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.

Saudi Arabia‘s Red Sea International Film Festival is midway through its third edition, running November 30 to December 9 in the palatial surroundings of the seafront Ritz Carlton in the port city of Jeddah.

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.

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.