Saudi Arabia will participate in the 75th Cannes International Film Festival, which will be held during the period from 17 to 28 May, with a national pavilion supervised by the Film Commission.
The Ministry of Investment, the Red Sea Film Festival, the Al-Ula Film, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture “Ithraa”, the NEOM Company, the MBC Group and several bodies representing the media and entertainment sectors in the kingdom will attend the festival.
The CEO of the Film Authority, Abdullah Al Ayyaf, said that returning to the Cannes Film Festival provided an opportunity to communicate with the international film industry to spread awareness about the emerging film sector in the kingdom.
He said the delegation aims to present the elements Saudi film sector possesses that make it a unique cinematic destination in the kingdom’s film industry, in addition to being an important platform to support emerging Saudi talents whose work will be shown at the festival.
The Saudi pavilion will host a session “The Reality of Arab Cinema” in the “Souk Cannes” region, organized by the Film Authority.
Egyptian producer Mohamed Hefzy, Saudi producer and director Ayman Khoja, and Tunisian director Lotfi Nathan, who is participating in the current session of the Cannes Festival in the “One Look” section, will participate at the session.
The session will address the reality and future of Arab cinema, and the opportunities and challenges that must be overcome to build a strong sector that will raise the status of Arab cinema to enjoy opportunities for international competition, Saudi media reports said.
The Saudi participation in the Cannes Film Festival comes at a time when the kingdom is making efforts to emerge as a cinema destination, attracting the most important international productions.
The beginning came with three major films from Hollywood, for which the kingdom provided distinctive filming locations in the last 18 months: “Kandahar” directed by Rick Roman Woo, which was filmed in Al-Ula Governorate and the historical Jeddah region; the historical epic movie “Desert Warrior” by Robert Wyatt, which was filmed in the new city of Neom and Tabuk, and the drama and crime movie “Cherry” directed by the Russo brothers, which was filmed in Al-Ula and Riyadh.
In the past 12 months, the kingdom has witnessed the production and filming of eight local feature films, which are currently participating in the Saudi Film Festival, in addition to a group of documentaries, commercials and local productions.
These include “Noura” written and directed by Tawfiq Al-Zaydi, and “Nora” Among the Sands” directed by Muhammad Al-Atawi, and two of the winning films in the “Light in Support of Films” competition organized by the Film Authority, which is one of the initiatives of the Ministry of Culture to support Saudi film production and discover emerging talents from filmmakers by creating a sustainable funding program.
The Kingdom is also currently hosting two film festivals that are considered among the important film festivals in the region, namely the “Saudi Films” festival, which is a starting point for many emerging talents in the Kingdom, and the Red Sea International Film Festival, which succeeded in presenting a distinguished first cycle in which 136 films from 68 films were shown.