Entertainment

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival ends in the middle of Omicron – The Hollywood Reporter

Despite the increase in omicron variation, the first edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival went ahead as planned and will close on December 15, in the Saudi city of Jeddah, without have any events been canceled due to pandemic concerns.

The inaugural edition of the country’s first official film festival looked like it was initially hit with the help of a second bad timing amid the ongoing global pandemic. The event’s initial dates for March 2020 suggest it’s postponed at the start of the first batch, and it looks like its 2021 restart attempt will be hit by a highly contagious COVID-19 variant orchid, was first discovered in Africa less than two weeks before opening night. on December 6.

But the festival went on despite a number of filmmakers and guests canceling their visits due to growing concerns – including Joe Wright and the cast of the film pulling the curtain, Cyrano – and the Red Sea Film Festival managed to enjoy its historic first edition without any major hiccups. (Meanwhile, Cyrano the Los Angeles premiere was postponed due to the changing COVID landscape (December 15)

While there were likely to be a few absences, opening night was full of eyes, with guests including Clive Owen, Anthony Mackie, Vincent Cassel, Clive Owen, Hilary Swank, Catherine Deneuve, Stephen Dorff and Irina Shayk . Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux was in attendance, while Saudi Arabia’s pioneering first female filmmaker, Haifaa al Mansour, was honored with a career award.

Sadly, all is not as simple sailing as the festival’s creative director Edouard Waintrop did not make the trip to Jeddah. But this has nothing to do with COVID-19, with the former Fortnight director of Cannes falling ill last weekend.

Over 10 days, the Red Sea Film Festival screened 138 feature films and short films from 67 countries, including 27 films by Saudi directors. Talking to CHEAP On the eve of the event, Al Mansour said it was this local connection that made her especially proud. “I’m glad there are so many stories and so many young people wanting to tell their stories,” she said.

Naturally, the film festival was used as a platform for some announcements from Saudi Arabia’s nascent film industry. Chief among them was the local Film Commission unveiling its first incentive scheme for domestic and international productions, a cash rebate set at 40% of total eligible spending. highly competitive events (higher than their regional counterparts Jordan and UAE). The news hits as cameras continue to shoot the two biggest films the country has ever welcomed Fighter of the Desert and Kandahar.

At the festival’s Yusr Awards – a ceremony that has somehow attracted the likes of Naomi Campbell and Ed Westwick – by Levan Koguashvili 4th Brighton, Georgia’s Oscar entry this year, won Best Picture, with Hamzah K. Jamjoom’s Broken won the Best Saudi Film Award and the Egyptian title You are like me Directed by Dina Amer, won the Audience Award. Meanwhile, the jury’s award was given to Iranian director Panah Panahi’s film The Family Road Bows in Cannes. Let’s go, which also won the Red Sea’s Best Cinematic Contribution Award.

“This is an extraordinary experience,” said Italian director and writer Giuseppe Tornatore, who headed the jury for the contest that featured the Red Sea. “We have been moved, stimulated and inspired by these films, and it has demonstrated exceptional filmmaking talent and compelling stories from the Arab world, Africa and Asia.” .

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