How Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival shows industry’s changing tides

My Driver and I was supposed to be made in 2016, but was scuttled amid Saudi Arabia’s decades-long cinema ban.

Eight years later, the landscape for film in the kingdom looks much different – and the star of My Driver and I now has an award.

Roula Dakheelallah was named the winner of the Chopard Emerging Saudi Talent award at the Red Sea International Film Festival on December 12. The award – and the glitzy festival itself – is a sign of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to shaping a new film industry.

“My heart is attached to cinema and art; I have always dreamed of a moment like this,” Dakheelallah, who still works a day job, said before the awards ceremony. “I used to work in voluntary films and help my friends in the field, but this is my first big role in a film.”

Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones were among the global movie stars at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Photo: Instagram/@morticia.addamzz

The reopening of cinemas in 2018 marked a cultural turning point for Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy that had instituted the ban 35 years before, under the influence of ultraconservative religious authorities. It has since invested heavily in a native film industry by building cinemas and launching programmes to support local filmmakers through grants and training.

Source link