Filmmakers Houda Benyamina and Yasmine Benkiran, and Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona Nazzaro are among the jurors for the industry programme of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (December 1-10).
French director Benyamina, Moroccan filmmaker Benkiran and Nazzaro comprise the jury of the Work-In-Progress showcase, which selected six feature projects in post-production last month. The trio will award a $30,000 post-production prize.
Benyamina’s solo directorial debut Divines won the Camera d’Or for best debut feature at Cannes in 2016. She is in post-production on her next film Toutes Pour Une.
Benkiran’s feature debut Queens closed the International Critics’ Week at Venice Film Festival in September this year.
The jury for the Red Sea Souk Project Market consists of Belgian filmmaker Aurelien Bodinaux of Neon Rouge Productions; Tunisian producer Habib Attia, who is managing director of leading Tunisian production company Cinetelefilms; and Jordanian producer Rula Nasser, who runs The Imaginarium Films.
The majority of a total $400,000 of awards, granted by the festival’s Red Sea Fund, is for the Project Market titles. A $100,000 production award is available, with two further $100,000 production awards for projects that have participated in the Red Sea Lodge development initiative.
The $35,000 development award and $35,000 special jury development prize are both open to all 23 Souk projects.
Red Sea Souk partners Titrafilm and Oticons will also grant ‘in kind’ awards – the former for subtitles, DCP or broadcasting, and the latter for music consulting, as well as offering one work-in-progress project a composer to build an original score for their film.
Myriam Arab, the main consultant for the Red Sea Souk, said the platform is “committed to encouraging and promoting brilliant world cinema and helping new Arab and African cinema Voices to receive the audience and recognition their work deserves.”
The second edition of the Souk will take place from December 3-6, with an awards ceremony on the final day.
Family films
Earlier today the festival confirmed a five-title line-up for its Families and Children programme. Animated comedy Puss In Boots: The Last Wish will play as a Family Gala screening, while Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, Vietnamese comedy Maika, Dutch football-themed title Bigman and Michel Ocelot’s tripartite The Black Pharaoh, The Savage and The Princess round out the strand.
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