DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival announced the lineup for its inaugural edition that will take place from Dec. 6-15 during a conference held in Jeddah on Tuesday.
The highly-anticipated event, which will be held at the UNESCO world heritage site Al-Balad, will feature award-winning international movies, honors for female filmmakers in the region and masterclasses to educate its movie enthusiasts. We’ve rounded up some of the highlights, including international and Arab films set to screen, below.
The festival will open with a movie that has Oscar buzz — “Cyrano,” directed by Joe Wright, which will have its world premiere on Dec. 6.
Audiences in the Kingdom will see the movie before it reaches the US and UK.
Diversity is another key element that organizers are gearing-up for. The movies that will be screened at the festival will comprise 138 films from 65 countries in 34 languages.
The collection caters for all age groups, and includes children’s movies, anime and 3D immersive experiences.
Among the highlights are Netflix’s drama “The Lost Daughter” that had its world premiere at the 78th Venice Film Festival, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter” and period drama “The Colour Room,” starring “Bridgerton” lead Phoebe Dynevor.
Meanwhile, Ana Lily Amirpour will present her fantasy-thriller “Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon,” starring Kate Hudson.
The closing movie will be Egyptian director Amr Salama’s “Bara El-Manhag,” which will have its world premiere at the festival.
The event will also celebrate women by honoring Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour and Egyptian actress Laila Eloui.
Renowned Egyptian actress Yousra will give a masterclass.
The festival’s Red Sea Souk, which is an initiative designed to discover and connect Arab and African filmmakers from the region, will host another masterclass by Chilean editor Andrea Chignoli.
There will also be panels with Palestinian filmmakers Hany Abu-Assad, Annemarie Jacir and Rashid Masharawi.