Ashraf AboArafe
The Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) announced its selection of films participating in the “New Saudi Cinema” program in the short films category, and the program celebrates Saudi cinema in all its categories, and honors the achievements made by the film industry in the past five years.
The films selected for the “New Saudi Cinema” program showcase inspiring Saudi talents, who, with their creativity, are drawing a bright cinematic future for the Kingdom. A future that reflects the slogan of the 93rd Saudi National Day, “We Dream and Achieve,” as the program continues to empower emerging talent and enhance opportunities to achieve greater success by providing a platform to showcase the creativity of filmmakers.
The duration of the 19 films selected to participate in the program ranges from 5 minutes to 44 minutes, and they present a wide range of topics related to confronting extremism, social adaptation, and overcoming personal conflicts. All of these films were produced by Saudi cadres who carried out most of the production or filming operations within the Kingdom.
The CEO of the Red Sea Film Foundation, Mohammed Al-Turki, explained that the New Saudi Cinema program reflects the Foundation’s permanent commitment to supporting Saudi cinematic talents, and it is a program dedicated to dreaming filmmakers who aspire to shape the future of Saudi cinema.”
For his part, the director of the New Saudi Cinema Program at the Red Sea International Film Festival, Mohi Qari, indicated that the Red Sea International Film Festival seeks to represent Saudi cinema and to witness its development and brilliance with each session of the festival, pointing out that the New Saudi Cinema Program aspires to showcase Diverse and inspiring stories characterized by creativity and innovation from all over the Kingdom, from a group of new emerging Saudi talents.
The films selected for this year’s short film category include: “Khaled Al-Sheikh: Between the Thorns of Art and Politics,” “The Last Winter,” “105th Street,” “Detour,” “The Journey,” and “Basin.” And the movie “I’m Fine”, the movie “Extended Intensity”, the movie “Km Km”, the movie “Slim”, the movie “Beast from the Sky”, the movie “In Something”, the movie “Antidote”, the movie “Old School”, and the movie “Art Block”.
