Leading international and Saudi film executives shared experiences and advice about film-financing programmes available in the Kingdom at a special Red Sea International Film Festival round table, hosted by Screen and sponsored by the Saudi Film Commission (SFC)

The discussion, held in Jeddah’s historic Al Balad district, explored the financing opportunities available in Saudi Arabia to international productions. Saudi is investing heavily to grow its film industry, with Saudi Film Commission offering a 40% cash rebate to attract film productions, and grant programme Daw, which can be accessed by co-productions. Neom offers a 40%+ incentive, with the uplift available through the media hub’s facilities, post-production, and resident talent and workforce.

The Cultural Development Fund, meanwhile, has launched the $234m Film Sector Financing Programme and has a grants programme that has invested $70m in film projects. The festival’s Red Sea Fund has supported more than 250 Arab and African projects, many of them international co-productions, since launching in 2021. All this comes as Saudi has quickly emerged as the biggest box-office market in the MENA region, going from zero to 627 screens in five years.

The country is also looking to train up a new generation of talent. MBC Studios’ Christina Wayne flagged the MBC Academy, which trains talent across the MENA regions to help grow the talent pool. Yellow Camel’s Rasha AlEmam pointed out that for every project it works on, the production services company aims to have increasing numbers of local crew so that in two or three years “we have maybe 100% local crew”.

SFC’s Abduljalil Al-Nasser also stressed that training and education is a key focus for Saudi Film Commission, as is supporting the creation of infrastructure. “We have a big role now because we are trying to kickstart the industry,” he added. “But we want to make sure that, with time, this sector will be driven by private sector investments.”

Guest list

  • Abduljalil Al-Nasser, general manager of sector development and investment attraction at the Saudi Film Commission (SFC)
  • Alex Walton, co-head of WME’s independent film sales and financing department
  • Bahaa Abdulmajeed, distribution and exhibition director at SFC
  • Chia-Hua Yeh, manager of partnerships and business development at Taiwan Creative Content Agency
  • Christina Wayne, managing director of MBC Studios
  • Faris AlAskar, executive director of portfolio management at Saudi’s Cultural Development Fund
  • Kailin Che, media lawyer at international law firm SmithDehn
  • Phil Hunt, founder and managing director of London-based financier Head Gear Films and the co-managing director of sales company Bankside Films
  • Rasha AlEmam, founder and CEO of Saudi production services company Yellow Camel
  • Wayne Borg, managing director of media industries, entertainment and culture at Neom

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