News

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival kicks off its second edition in the port city of Jeddah this week.

The event, which runs December 1-10, unfolds five years to the week that news first broke that the country was lifting its 35-year cinema ban as part of a wider strategy to open up its society and the economy.

Related Story Saudi Arabia's Red Sea Film Festival To Honor Indian Star Shah Rukh Khan Related Story U.S. Beats Iran, Advances To Second Round Of World Cup; Will Face Netherlands Next Related Story Fox Sports Replay Cuts Protester Entirely Out Of Portugal-Uruguay World Cup Match; FIFA Says Pitch Invader Was Released – Updated

The 2021 inaugural edition unfolded amid uncertainty for both organizers and attendees. There were also a handful of last-minute glitches including the emergence of the more virulent Covid-19 Omicron strain and the no-show of figurehead artistic director Edouard Waintrop.

The festival runs December 1-10

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival has unveiled its International and Arab Spectacular programmes.

Scroll down for full line-ups

Among the nine-strong international selection is Luca Guadagnino’s Bones And All and Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.

Guadagnino’s cannibal romance starring Timothee Chalamet and Taylor Russell had its world premiere at Venice where it won best director and best young actor for Russell.

Pinocchio, co-directed by Mark Gustafson, world premiered at BFI London Film Festival last month and will be released globally by Netflix in December.

Other International Spectacular titles include Martin McDonagh...

The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea Iff), in partnership with Vox Cinemas and the Mbc Group, has unveiled the program for its second edition, which will run from 1-10 December in Jeddah, nestled on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. The Festival will welcome filmmakers, talent, media, industry professionals, and film fans for a 10-day celebration of global cinema.

The Red Sea Iff is thrilled to announce the opening night gala, What’s Love Got to Do with It? directed by Shekhar Kapur, written by Jemima Khan and produced by Studiocanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Academy Award winner Emma Thompson. Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship, tradition and iconoclasm, What’s Love Got to Do with It? is a cross-cultural British romantic comedy that follows a filmmaker who decides to...

Click here to read the full article.

The Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia has named Oliver Stone its jury president and unveiled the program for its second edition, which will run Dec. 1-10 in Jeddah.

“Legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone has been chosen to lead the jury of the Red Sea: Features Competition jury,” organizers said. “The three-time Academy Award winner is behind some of the all-time masterpieces of cinema, including Scarface, The Doors, Wall Street, JFK, Midnight Express, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Nixon and Natural Born Killers.”

The festival also unveiled its opening film: What’s Love Got to Do With It?, directed by Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth, Bandit Queen), written by Jemima Khan and produced by StudioCanal and Working Title. The film stars Lily James, Shazad Latif, Shabana Azmi, Sajal Aly, Asim Chaudhry and Emma Thompson. “Sliding between London and Lahore, love and friendship,...

Shekhar Kapur’s rom com “What’s Love Got to Do With It?” will open the second edition of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival, where director Oliver Stone will preside over the main jury.

The fest, which is Saudi’s first full-fledged film festival and market with international ambitions after the country in late 2017 removed its religion-related ban on cinemas, will run Dec. 1-10 in Jeddah, on the eastern shore of the Red Sea.

The closer is the world premiere of Saudi feature “Valley Road,” written and directed by Khaled Fahd, an uplifting drama about a man named Ali who lives in a mountain village and is perceived as having a disability.

Sandwiched in between is a mix of the cream of the festival circuit crop, such as Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winning “Triangle of Sadness,” Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” and Park Chan-Wook’s “Decision to Leave,...

Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2014 submissions (photo: Ziyi Zhang in ‘The Grandmaster’) (See previous post: Best Foreign Language Film Oscar: ‘The Past,’ ‘Wadjda,’ Andrzej Wajda Among Omissions) In case you missed it, here’s the full list of submissions (in alphabetical order, per country) for the 2014 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. The list of contenders was originally announced on October 7, 2013. Of note: Saudi Arabia and Moldova were first-timers; Montenegro was a first-timer as an independent country. Afghanistan, Wajma — An Afghan Love Story, Barmak Akram, director; Albania, Agon, Robert Budina, director; Argentina, The German Doctor, Lucía Puenzo, director; Australia, The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt, director; Austria, The Wall, Julian Pölsler, director; Azerbaijan, Steppe Man, Shamil Aliyev, director; Bangladesh, Television, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director; Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen, director; Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Danis Tanovic, director; Brazil, Neighboring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its shortlist for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar — totaling a not-so-short 76 submitted films.

The number, up from 71 films last year, sets a new record for the category and includes frontrunners such as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past from Iran, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt from Denmark, and Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster from Hong Kong. Abdellatif Kechiche’s festival favorite lesbian drama Blue Is the Warmest Color from France, however, failed to make the cut-off date for eligibility, while India controversially submitted Gyan Correa’s The Good Road over Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.

The Academy officially announced today that a record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 2014 Oscars. Among those submitting, Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants and this is the first time Montenegro has submitted a film as an independent country. Based solely on name recognition alone I'd say Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt (Denmark) and Asghar Farhadi's The Past (Iran) will be looked at as front-runners. However, I haven't only seen a few of the titles on this list, another of which is Mexico's entry, Heli from Amat Escalante. I have heard good things about Borgman (Netherlands) and it will be interesting to see how Haifaa al-Mansour's Wadjda is treated as it is a story unto itself, not to mention it seems to be receiving high marks from those that have seen it. I'm personally hoping to catch it soon...

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has released the list of the 76 countries and their submissions officially competing for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Amongst the high profile entries this year are Australia's "The Rocket," Denmark's "The Hunt," France's "Renoir," Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster," Iran's "The Past," and Saudi Arabia's "Wadjda".

The nominations will be announced on January 16th 2014 ahead of the ceremony on March 2nd. Here is the complete list:

Afghanistan, "Wajma – An Afghan Love Story," Barmak Akram

Albania, "Agon," Robert Budina

Argentina, "The German Doctor," Lucía Puenzo

Australia, "The Rocket," Kim Mordaunt

Austria, "The Wall," Julian Pölsler

Azerbaijan, "Steppe Man," Shamil Aliyev

Bangladesh, "Television," Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium, "The Broken Circle Breakdown," Felix van Groeningen

Bosnia and Herzegovina, "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," Danis Tanovic

Brazil, "Neighboring Sounds," Kleber Mendonça Filho

Bulgaria, "The Color of the Chameleon," Emil Hristov

Cambodia, "The Missing Picture,...

A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards®.

Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants; Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country.

The 2013 submissions are:

Afghanistan, “Wajma – An Afghan Love Story,” Barmak Akram, director;

Albania, “Agon,” Robert Budina, director;

Argentina, “The German Doctor,” Lucía Puenzo, director;

Australia, “The Rocket,” Kim Mordaunt, director;

Austria, “The Wall,” Julian Pölsler, director;

Azerbaijan, “Steppe Man,” Shamil Aliyev, director;

Bangladesh, “Television,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;

Belgium, “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Felix van Groeningen, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” Danis Tanovic, director;

Brazil, “Neighboring Sounds,” Kleber Mendonça Filho, director;

Bulgaria, “The Color of the Chameleon,” Emil Hristov, director;

Cambodia, “The Missing Picture,” Rithy Panh, director;

Canada, “Gabrielle,” Louise Archambault, director;

Chad, “GriGris,” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, director;

Chile, “Gloria,” Sebastián Lelio, director;

China, “Back to 1942,” Feng Xiaogang,...

This year the event dedicated to women and cinema will throw its programme open to groundbreaking Middle Eastern movies

"The best documentary at the Doha international film festival in 2011 and 2012 was won by a woman," says Will Young from the Birds Eye View film festival. "The best feature in the Dubai international film festival in 2011 and 2012 was won by a woman … We knew there was something going on."

The "something", says the event's creative director Kate Gerova, was "an explosion of creative talent" among female directors from the Middle East with Lara Saba's Blind Intersections opening the Beirut international film festival and Djamila Sahraoui's Yema winning the Algerian international film festival last year. Throw in the added topicality sparked by the Arab spring and the organisers of Birds Eye felt it only right for the annual festival dedicated to women and film to give itself over for one year to Arab women film-makers.