The fifth Red Sea International Film Festival takes place December 4 to 13, 2023, on the Jeddah Corniche, featuring outdoor movie screenings at Al Balad, a UNESCO World Heritage site within the festival grounds, known for its charming blend of new and old architecture. The festival features more than 100 movies from 70 countries, including 38 world premieres, setting the international and diverse tone for the festival.
The film festival will showcase talent from East to West, North to South
According to Gulf News, the festival will feature a walk of fame with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan from India, famous in the Bollywood world, Adrien Brody from Hollywood, and Rekha, a movie star from India. The festival will help integrate cinema from the East and West and ambitiously place Jeddah on the world film tourism map. The festival will not only showcase films but will also participate in networking for the film industry, bringing together Europe and the Arab world, as well as famous and emerging directors, producers, and actors.
The main feature of the festival is the Red Sea: Competitions strand, which comprises sixteen films competing for the Yusr Awards. Several movies in the strand are international co-productions, which aligns with the festival’s goal of promoting international collaboration. Among the most notable films are:
- Yunan, produced by Ameer Fakher Eldin, is a collaboration between Germany, Canada, Italy, Palestine, Qatar, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.
- The Stories by Abu Bakr Shawky, which is co-produced in Egypt, France, Austria, and Sweden.
- All That’s Left of You by Cherien Dabis, who previously participated in Sundance and Karlovy Vary.
In the international spectacular, films on offer include Couture by Alice Winocour, starring Angelina Jolie, and The Wizard of the Kremlin by Olivier Assayas. In the Treasures Sidebar, there is a revival of classics such as The Big Blue by Luc Besson.
The Special Screenings include award-winning movies, such as Kaouther Ben Hania’s The Voice of Hind Rajab, winner of the Venice Silver Lion. In a bid to entertain all, movies from all eras and genres are screened
The festival is more than a cultural festival; it is also a renaissance for Arabic culture
This is the Red Sea International Film Festival’s first edition to be held in Jeddah, having been hosted in other countries in previous editions. It is also the first Saudi Arabian international festival allowing visitors from various parts of the world to engage with the new Saudi culture, as well as the first to introduce international stars of Saudi Arabia’s cinema and its emerging cultural activities. It is indicative of the kingdom’s new openness to the world.
Fionnuala Halligan, the new International Programs Director of the festival, said that this variety of selections pays tribute to those visionaries of the 7th Art who delight and expand the frontiers of the art of cinema and demonstrate “imagination to the potentiality of cross-cultural collaborations. This best describes the vision Saudi Arabia has for bridging the world’s cultures.
The new cinema hub of the world, and a much-needed revival of culture in cinema
This festival shows that Jeddah is a new world cinema hub, with star attractions, versatile programming, sophisticated cinema, and a venue with historical gravitas. It is a world stage for filmmakers and film lovers. Concentrating on world film and cultural interchange, it enriches Saudi Arabia’s culture and its presence in the world cinema arena. This festival is garnering the Red Sea International Film Festival, expanding world cinema for enthusiastic film lovers. With 2026 around the corner, we expect this enormous cinema festival to diversify and enrich its activities.
For the festival to entertain and promote excitement within the people, that is, people watching the latest, popular, and diverse world cinema, it is the festival’s aim. The Red Sea International Film Festival is the start of a new series of cultural festivals, which, of course, is an epoch for cinema and culture in film festivals. This is the festival that spotlights cinema and world culture, along with Jeddah, a historic place, a constellation that combines the beauty and glamour of Hollywood, the narrative of the Arabs, and the other world’s crafts.
