The Spectacular Cinematic Dreams Of Saudi Arabia

In the middle of the Festival of Cannes 2023, the elegant cocktail hosted by the Red Sea International Film Festival of Saudi Arabia on the Majestic Beach brought back the excitement that festival is known for. The emergence of Saudi Arabia as a major player in international filmdom is no longer a secret. And 2023 is distinctly the breakout year for Saudi Arabia’s fledgling entertainment industry.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s determination to make the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a global entertainment center took shape with the opening of the first AMC cinema in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District in April 2018. Under its visionary 2030 plans the oil-rich nation is opening hundreds of screens and Emaar’s Reel Cinemas, VOX Cinema, and the homegrown Muvi Cinemas have already opened their doors to cine-goers. A semi-autonomous region in northwest Saudi Arabia, set across 26,500 kilometers (approximately the size of Belgium) is the site of a mind-bogglingly impressive, mirrored wall - The Line. The brainchild of Crown Prince Salman NEOM will include hyperconnected, cognitive cities, ports and enterprise zones, research centers, sports and entertainment venues, and tourist destinations besides accommodating some nine million people.

Saudi Arabia’s ambitious technology-based and self-sufficient futuristic city had opened the NEOM Media Village and Bajdah Desert Studios. It contains the largest sound studios and film production support facilities in the region across an integrated creative campus that will eventually be more than one million square meters. The two 2,400 square meters capacity stages within the Media Village are equipped with state-of-the art technology and production facilities comprising green rooms make-up rooms, and production offices. There are two stages at Neom’s Bajdah Desert Studios also. The Managing Director of Media Industries, Entertainment and Culture at NEOM is Wayne Borg an accomplished, and successful international executive with a 20-plus years of intercontinental experience. Borg explains, “We have a tremendous opportunity to make NEOM the world’s first fully integrated media hub because we are designing and building from the ground up. All within a cognitive city powered by world-class technology.”

Additionally, NEOM is located only a six-hour flight away for 40 per cent of the world's population with direct flights landing at NEOM Bay Airport from major Saudi cities, Dubai and London too. Within two hours of the NEOM Media Village, Saudi Arabia boasts stunning locations with well-preserved white sands coastline with the Red Sea and its immaculate reefs glimmering below turquoise waters. There are perfect desertscapes with sweeping sand dunes and towering rock formations too. Borg adds, “Here we have assembled a seasoned, world-class team of international production industry professionals. They understand what global producers and crew need. Our team is fully dedicated to supporting all future productions. No matter the size or budget”. In addition, Saudi Arabia has announced a rebate and incentive scheme that provides 40%-plus of spend in cash back for productions that recruit local crew and talent above and below the line. The $140M epic Rupert Wyatt project Desert Warrior, starring Anthony Mackie was shot here and the facilities have already had visits from production teams from Hollywood, Germany, India, Britain, France, and Turkey among other entertainment content-producing nations. Borg is also focusing on creating original Arabic content for the underserved 550 million people of the MENA region.

The Red Sea Film Foundation of Saudi Arabia formed two years ago, has launched the Red Sea International Film Festival, Red Sea Souk, Red Sea Labs, and the Red Sea Fund. The foundation has already financed 168 movies and had invested in 8 titles in the official selection of Cannes 2023 including the opening film, ‘Jeanne Du Barry’. The action thriller “Kandahar” the first big-budget Hollywood movie shot entirely in Saudi Arabia had its global premiere at Cannes. Earlier in 2021, the first-ever Red Sea International Film Festival was launched in Jeddah. The articulate and committed Shivani Pandya Malhotra is the Managing Director of the Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) with the experience of managing both the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) and the Gulf Film Festival (GFF) earlier. Describing the RSIFF Malhotra says, “Our flagship event the RSIFF is an international platform, with the film competition focused on Asia, Africa and the Arab world. The other initiatives to date have been focused on Africa and the Arab world and in due course we hope to become an important platform for Asian content too.” The second edition of the festival in 2022 welcomed audiences of almost 40,000 and 4,345 film professionals over 10 days. It saw local, regional, and international investors and filmmakers arrive on the Red Sea coast. The RSIFF had also added the Red Sea Souk a business hub where both films and projects get bought and sold. In 2022, more than 4300 delegates attended the Red Sea Souk, and over 500 organizations were represented at the market and festival.

Malhotra who was listed among Variety’s top 500 leaders shaping the global entertainment industry reveals, “We are very proud of what we have started with the Red Sea Souk, with our last edition comprising of the Project Market with 23 projects, six work-in-progress films, 50 exhibition stands, 13 panel discussions and facilitating over 1190 meetings across all the Souk initiatives including Talent days, a two-day initiative designed to support the development of the next generation of Saudi filmmakers. The Red Sea Souk concluded with more than a million USD awarded to projects selected in the Red Sea Souk Awards – which is an amazing outcome for those filmmakers to propel them on their journey. We plan to grow this offering in the next edition, as well as continuing to create a 360-degree offering for film industry professionals.”

The Indian film industry was celebrated at the festival and the Harvard educated, Malhotra explains, “As you might know many of the Saudis have grown up with Indian Cinema, so there is a deep connection with India. For us as a festival we have embraced this, and we opened our most recent festival with Shekhar Kapur’s romantic comedy ‘What’s Love Got to Do With It?’, with both Shekhar Kapur and Shabana Azmi present. We also presented Pan Nalin’s ‘Last Film Show’ (Chhello Show) which was India’s entry in the 2023 Oscar race, as well as Saurav Yadav’s short ‘A Boy Who Cannot See The Beauty’. We had Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor and Saif support our Women in Cinema programme, and had the two popular stars Akshay Kumar and Hrithik Roshan give masterclasses.” To top it all the RSIFF honored Shah Rukh Khan along with Yousra and Guy Ritchie and Variety gave an award to Ranbir Kapur. Musical maestro and Oscar winner A.R. Rahman added a spectacular concert on the Corniche. The third edition of RSIFF will take place in Jeddah from 30 November to 9 December 2023.

With two-thirds of the Saudi Arabian population being under 35 years of age, the nation has already become one of the biggest markets in the GCC and MENA region. It is estimated that its Box Office will reach US$1B by 2030. With cinemas, studios, production facilities, film festival, film market, incentives, film fund, and top-notch talent to support the enterprises, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is gradually developing into a world-class film destination and a global entertainment powerhouse.

Dr. Bhuvan Lall is an award-winning Author, Filmmaker and Creative Entrepreneur. He is currently writing a book on India at the Festival de Cannes and can be reached at [email protected]