Jeddah

Saudi Arabia, the most important country in the Islamic world, is hosting the first-ever International Film Festival, which was attended by film personalities from around the world, including the United States, Britain, France, Egypt, India, and Malaysia.

Leading showbiz personalities from around the world attended the Red Sea International Film Festival (RIFF), the first of its kind in the coastal city of Jeddah. The Festival is a 10-day long affair in which 138 documentaries from 67 countries in more than 30 languages will be screened.

Among several Hindi, Malayalam, and Bengali language films from India, the most prominent and eagerly awaited would be Kabir Khan’s '83', a Hindi language film based on the Indian cricket team’s incredible victory in the world cup and starring Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, will also be screened at the film festival.

Scenes during the inaugural funct RIFF at Jeddah

At the inaugural ceremony, the participants said that the revival of cinema in Saudi Arabia is a positive step and it should not be taken lightly.

The director of the film festival, Mohammed Al-Turki, said that for the next 10 days, all the famous films from around the world will be screened. It will send a message to the world that Saudi Arabia is open to offering its services in the promotion of art and culture.

Haifa Al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia's first female director, is also expected to attend the festival. In 2012, she directed the film Wajda that won several international awards.

Elham Ali, a Saudi actor who participated in the film festival, said that he did not believe in the announcement of a film festival in Saudi Arabia by Prince Muhammad bin Salman five years ago and today he walked on the red carpet at the first film festival in the history of the country.

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Ahmed Al-Mallah, the director of Saudi Arabia, says that before 2018, the cinema industry in Saudi Arabia was in a deep decline due to which investors were not interested in putting their money in the industry.

Participants in the inaugural ceremony of the first-ever Saudi  film festival

Saudi actors and directors are happy to host the film festival. By 2030, Saudi Arabia's entertainment industry is expected to generate 950 million USD and contribute significantly to the country's foreign currency reserves.

More than 135 films from various countries of the world will be screened at this unique film festival. Most of the films presented at the film festival are in the Arabic language, however, films in other languages including English, French, Spanish, Hindi, Bengali, and Malayalam will also be screened during the festival.

The film festival signals the winds of change blowing in what was once the most closed society that worked on the strict Islamic tenets and barred cinemas. Saudi Arabia is restricting itself given the impending drying up of the Kingdom’s natural reservoirs of oil and is diversifying its economy and liberalizing its strict Islamic regime.