Saudi Arabian Cinema Industry: Capturing The Imagination Of The Film World

The private jets ferrying film celebrities streamed in from all directions into Jeddah's King Abdulaziz International Airport. The dynamic business capital of Saudi Arabia and the wealthiest city in the Middle East, Jeddah was the venue of the third edition of the glitzy Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF). Saudi Arabia’s leadership has in the past five years unveiled an ambitious road map for its fledgling media and entertainment industry with the opening of cinemas, film production facilities, and a world-class international film festival and market. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has opened up its spectacular locations ranging from the Red Sea coastline with some of the world’s finest coral reefs to breathtaking landscapes of the north-western region of AlUla and the fully equipped Neom studios for shooting international films. All are visible manifestations of the nation’s Vision 2030 which seeks to diversify the Kingdom’s investment and prepare the biggest Arab economy for a post-oil era. With the first cinema opening five years ago, the direct beneficiaries are the youthful Saudis (63% of the population of the desert kingdom are under 30) who are now entering the arena of cinema culture. The Saudi Arabian film market in these short years has quickly emerged as the biggest MENA theatrical territory with $87m in the third quarter of 2023, and there are now 69 cinemas with over 615 screens across the nation. This is perhaps the fastest-growing cinema industry the world has ever seen.

On the spectacular opening night of the RSIFF on 30 November 2023, globally known stars including Will Smith, Sharon Stone, Michelle Williams, Johnny Depp, Sofia Vergara, Diane Kruger, and Ranveer Singh graced the red carpet at the visually arresting 1,000-seat Grand Ballroom in the Ritz-Carlton next to Jeddah’s famous corniche beach area. The Australian director Baz Luhrmann headed the jury of the Red Sea Competition along with Freida Pinto, Joel Kinnaman, Amina Khalil, and Paz Vega. With cinema emerging from its infancy in Saudi Arabia, the festival opener was fittingly the local fantasy romance HWJN, made by Yasir Alyasiri and a co-production from Image Nation Abu Dhabi, MBC Studios, and Vox Studios.

Ever since Riyadh announced a 40+% cash rebate on film production and the Cultural Development Fund launched the USD 234 million Film Sector Financing Programme local and international film professionals have headed to attend the Red Sea Souk, the business conference and market to promote the sector. The third edition of the Souk’s extraordinarily well-curated array of functions and its implausible scale ran the Red Sea 360° industry conferences, workshops, and in-conversation sessions program focused on the future of the Arab, African and Asian film industries and showcased projects in the market. It became a magnet for an international filmdom seeking funding, talent, and scripts from the Middle East or finding co-production partners for projects that are either for Arab audiences or that take Middle Eastern movies and talent across the world. The eye-catching exhibition held in the two adjacent Violet and Orchid halls at the opulent Ritz Carlton attracted cinema chains, Vox Cinemas and muvi Cinemas, and producers MBC Studios, Telfaz11, distributor CineWaves as well as local media hubs Neom and AlUla. Wayne Borg, managing director of media industries, entertainment, and culture at Neom, the ambitious futuristic city has already seen a lot of traction with international filmmakers shooting their features out there. Greg Silverman’s West Hollywood-based Stampede Ventures and Royal Commission for AlUla’s film agency announced a three-year, 10-project pact for films to be shot in the heritage region of AlUla that is currently being developed as a major creative and tourist center. Gerard Butler's action picture ‘Kandahar’ and the Russo brothers’ ‘Cherry’ have earlier shot in AlUla. Red Sea Fund which is part of an ecosystem of the Red Sea Foundation awards up to $500,0000 per project. Red Sea CEO Mohammed Al Turki announced that the Red Sea Fund had so far backed 250 projects from Arab and African regions and seven films backed by the fund had played at Festival de Cannes this year. Fund Manager Emad Eskander revealed that it had seven films shortlisted for the Oscars this year. A Red Sea Lodge development and mentorship programme is aimed at inspiring a new generation of talent in the region. In addition, the Cultural Fund Development Fund, Ithra Film Production, and the Saudi Film Commission’s Daw initiative are all trying to create to support the local film production industry. A program dedicated to developing animated features in Saudi Arabia was in the works. At the RSIFF, Saudi Arabia launched its first official film industry guild and inaugural board member and director Hana Al Omair, speaking at a conference said, “Having a professional association is fundamental for the development of the sector,”. One of the highlights of the RSIFF was the Women In Cinema Dinner event hosted jointly by Vanity Fair Europe and the festival that underscored the achievements of women both on and behind the camera who are helping shape the film industry in Saudi Arabia, Africa, and India.

India figured prominently at RSIFF and Indian stars Ranveer Singh, Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt, and filmmakers Guneet Monga and Karan Johar, were widely cheered and sought for photographs by enthusiastic local fans. Oscar-winning music composer A.R. Rahman also graced the festival with his presence. Exhibiting at the Red Sea Souk, Indian entrepreneur Manzoor Ali Sayed, CEO and Co-Founder of RAYS 3D, drew clients from all over the world for the company’s unique and cost-effective 2D-3D conversion technology. Luhrmann, the Oscar-nominated director of Elvis, Moulin Rouge, and The Great Gatsby, confirmed his love for India and his association with the Indian screen icon Amitabh Bachchan. Top French-Tunisian Tarak Ben Ammar, who currently has Antoine Fuqua’s Denzel Washington-starring action picture The Equalizer 3 in cinemas worldwide in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, speaking at a conference said, “India is ‘the’ example to follow” with its multibillion-dollar film industry serving the interests of over 1.4 billion citizens. Incidentally, Saudi Arabia is one of the locations where Raj Kumar Hirani’s ‘Dunki’, starring Shah Rukh Khan was shot.

The Festival Awards night on 7 December 2023 closed with the MENA Premiere of Michael Mann’s high-octane biopic Ferrari, starring Adam Driver as legendary Italian motor-racing driver Enzo Ferrari, alongside Penelope Cruz and Shailene Woodley as his wife and lover respectively, and had RSIFF Managing Director, Shivani Pandya Malhotra, listed as one of the executive producers. At the closing ceremony Jomana Al-Rashid, Chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Foundation announced, “Over the past eight days, we have welcomed the world to Jeddah and celebrated this vibrant global film community together – with a goal of bridging cultures and creating new ties…We’ve done that with over 125 films from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda, Armenia, Malaysia, Pakistan, New Zealand, France, India, Thailand and many more – as well as an industry program in the Souk with 348 project submissions and 44 works in progress from more than 26 countries. We are proud to have created a meeting place for ideas, business, and inspiration to carry us into the new year.” Tarsem Singh, a well-known globally acclaimed filmmaker of Indian origin, received the $30,000 Silver Yusr award for his latest production, ‘Dear Jassi’, in front of an audience that included Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Gwyneth Paltrow, Dhafer L’Abidine, Andrew Garfield, Adrien Brody Halle Berry, Henry Golding, Yousra, Kaouther Ben Hania, and Jason Statham. The Golden Yusr for best film at RSIFF with a $100,000 cash prize went to Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Zarrar Khan’s ‘In Flames’. British-Palestinian director Farah Nabulsi received the jury prize for her feature ‘The Teacher’, starring Saleh Bakri who also won the best actor award for his role. Among other awards, Nicholas Cage wearing a red suit specially for the occasion received the RSIFF’s Yusr honorary award, Uzbekistan’s Shokir Kholikov won the Best Director prize and Mouna Hawa got the Best Actress trophy. Kaleem Aftab, the director of international programming at the festival merited the loud applause for a job well done.

The festival with films from 77 nations had almost 6,000 accredited guests including a substantial number of international distributors, sales agents, producers, financiers, and festival heads making it the biggest in terms of attendance. Enduring the launch of RSIFF against the backdrop of the global pandemic and now braving the third edition at the tail end of the Actor’s Strike in Hollywood, adequately highlights the organizers' intent. For festival veterans like me, with close to three decades spent traversing international film festivals in Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and Locarno, the Red Sea International Film Festival 2023 was certainly a place to be for the international and Indian filmdom. The most exciting premieres were held here, the foremost new voices in filmmaking were here, the world's top stars were here, and the energy was unreal. This three-year-old film festival has already made an impact on the global filmdom with its meticulous management, artistic edge, and financial wisdom. The next edition of RSIFF is likely to take place at the under-construction, Red Sea Foundation HQ in Al Balad, the historic district of Jeddah. And in the years to come it will compete with the best film festivals in the world.

For now, Saudi Arabia has captured the imagination of the film world.

Dr. Bhuvan Lall is an award-winning author, director, producer, and creative entrepreneur. His book on India at the Cannes Film Festival will be launched in 2024.