{"id":168540,"date":"2025-12-04T22:54:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/168540\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T22:54:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:54:06","slug":"hollywood-meets-the-middle-east-as-red-sea-international-film-festival-opens-in-jeddah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/168540\/","title":{"rendered":"Hollywood meets the Middle East as Red Sea International Film Festival opens in Jeddah"},"content":{"rendered":"

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — The fifth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival<\/a>, one of the Middle East\u2019s largest film festivals, opened Thursday in the coastal city of Jeddah, marking a significant moment for the kingdom\u2019s growing film industry.<\/p>\n

Running from Dec. 4 to 13, the Red Sea International Film Festival brings together filmmakers and talent from around the world, screening more than 100 films from over 70 countries.<\/p>\n

The festival\u2019s prestigious \u201cRed Sea: Competition\u201d strand features a selection of 16 narrative features, animations and documentaries from the Arab world, Asia and Africa, all vying for the top honor: the Yusr Awards, which will be presented at the closing ceremony.<\/p>\n

The festival takes place in Jeddah\u2019s Al-Balad district \u2014 a UNESCO World Heritage site<\/a> \u2014 blending Saudi heritage with international cinema.<\/p>\n

This year, the selection jury is being led by the Academy Award-winning filmmaker Sean Baker<\/a>, best known for \u201cAnora,\u201d which won five Oscars<\/a>, four of which went to Sean Baker himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis festival is really exciting because of how big it\u2019s become just in the last five years,\u201d Baker said. \u201cIt\u2019s rare that I see a festival just exploding in terms of importance and impact on world cinema.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival opens with \u201cGiant,\u201d a true story of legendary British-Yemeni boxing champion Prince Naseem \u2018Naz\u2019 Hamed. The film stars Egyptian-British actor Amir El-Masry as Hamed and Pierce Brosnan<\/a> as his Irish trainer, Brendan Ingle, and is directed by British filmmaker Rowan Athale.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was probably one of the hardest roles I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d El-Masry said, noting that his preparation involved four and a half weeks of training, during which he lost about eight kilos.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a passion project for me for a long time,\u201d said Athale. \u201cI come from a similar neighborhood \u2014 actually within a few miles of Naz. He was a hero of mine growing up, particularly being multiracial in the region. I\u2019ve always wanted to make a film about him. So it\u2019s a privilege to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the premiere, he added, \u201cTo have it as the opening night film here \u2014 I mean, look at this. I\u2019ve never seen anything like this. Not at Cannes, not anywhere. It\u2019s daunting, it\u2019s terrifying, but it\u2019s an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening night drew a wide range of international stars, including Hollywood and Bollywood figures including Adrien Brody, Sir Michael Caine, Vin Diesel and Ana de Armas walking the red carpet.<\/p>\n

Veteran actor Giancarlo Esposito<\/a>, also attending the festival, said the gathering reflects the unifying power of cinema. \u201cThis celebration at the Red Sea Film Festival is really about celebrating film,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Red Sea International Film Festival was founded by Saudi Arabia\u2019s Ministry of Culture and supported by the Red Sea Film Foundation. It is funded by the kingdom\u2019s Public Investment Fund sovereign wealth fund and private sponsors. It aims to play a vital role in promoting regional filmmakers and fostering global connections.<\/p>\n

The festival is part of Saudi Arabia\u2019s Vision 2030 objectives, which include diversifying the economy, strengthening cultural infrastructure and fostering local creative talent.<\/p>\n

The event comes as Saudi Arabia invests heavily in sectors like film, gaming and sports as part of its broader transformation efforts. However, various rights groups have criticized these actions, saying they serve to draw away attention from the kingdom\u2019s human rights record<\/a>, including its high rate of executions and restrictions on free expression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — The fifth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival, one of the Middle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":168541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[100137,127,14228,146,52813,122,85,46,397,126],"class_list":["post-168540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-100137","tag-article","tag-documentaries","tag-entertainment","tag-fairs-and-festivals","tag-general-news","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-movies","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}