Mohammed Al-Turki, the CEO of the Red Sea Film Foundation, is stepping down with board member Mohammed Asseri appointed as acting CEO.
Al-Turki plans to focus on personal projects and his career as an independent film producer and businessman, and will continue to support the Red Sea Film Foundation leadership team as an advisor.
The Foundation runs the Red Sea International Film Festival and its funding programmes have supported over 250 projects from Saudi, MENA and Africa and Asia.
The selection of a successor is underway.
Al-Turki’s departure comes after four titles supported by the Red Sea Film Foundation recently played at Cannes. These included Tawfik Alzaidi’s Un Certain Regard title Norah, which had its world premiere at the 2023 Red Sea International Film Festival.
”As we leave the Cannes Film Festival on a high, we look back at the past three years and the building blocks that have been worked on relentlessly by the team at Red Sea Film Foundation and share our gratitude for Mohammed Al-Turki who played a key role in leading the team and the Foundation to where it is today,” said Jomana Alrashid, chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Foundation.
Al Turki said: “Working with the Foundation on these three editions of the festival and cementing Saudi Arabia’s place on the global stage of the film industry has been an honour and a privilege. We have achieved so much, and ahead of our fourth edition—we are in a position we could only have dreamed of a few years ago—which is why I feel now is the perfect time to transition. I am grateful for the ties we have built as a team and will continue to support my Red Sea Film Foundation family led by the chairwoman of the Foundation Jomana Alrashid and its managing director Shivani Pandya Malhotra.”
The fourth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival will run in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from December 5 – 14.
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