A group of UK producers, distributors and sales agents are on the ground in Jeddah at this week’s Red Sea International Film Festival, looking to increase the number of UK-Saudi film co-productions.
The delegation has been organised by the Red Sea Souk industry platform, which takes place from December 2-5. Attending UK industry will take part in panels, meet Saudi and international financiers, join events at the Souk, and present film projects from their slates.
The trip has been put together off the back of My Driver And I, a UK production from Caspian Films and Corniche Media directed by actress and filmmaker Ahd, which shot in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. The festival is aiming to secure the film for its 2024 edition.
The collaboration was set up by Red Sea Souk manager Zain Zedan, head of Red Sea Labs Ryan Ashore and director of international programming Kaleem Aftab. As well as firming up co-production projects, the aims of the delegation are to foster relationships between UK filmmakers and Saudi talents; to increase the number of UK films at the festival; and to attract UK filmmakers to shoot in the country, including at Neom and AlUla.
Red Sea will also look to create year-round events with the UK, similar to its exchange programme with Germany’s Goethe-Institut and 48hr Film Challenge with the Alliance Francaise.
“The British film industry is one of the strongest and most robust in the world,” said Aftab. “Their input and knowledge sharing is invaluable to the Red Sea and Saudi filmmakers as we build an industry that we hope one day will be as exalted as the great British film industry.”
UK presence
Innovation and engaging with new audiences are the leading reasons bringing UK professionals to the festival, which runs November 30 to December 9, with more than 50 representatives from across the industry making the trip to Jeddah.
“The technological growth coming out of the region is very appealing,” said Andy Briggs, writer-producer at UK production company The Shingle Media, who is attending “to network” and find partners for a Tarzan series, which will be made as a fully digital production.
“Red Sea has the potential to build, scale and innovate on the legacy of its predecessors on the Arabian Peninsula: Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha Tribeca film festivals,” said Talal Malik, founding CEO and producer at London-based Alpha1Media, for whom a trip to Red Sea is becoming a part of his annual business calendar. “The Kingdom has strategically harnessed its ambitions in the sport sector so envisage the potential to do the same in the entertainment and film sectors,” he added.
UK producer Lucy Darwin will attend the festival for screenings of documentaries Lost In La Mancha and He Dreams Of Giants, which both follow Terry Gilliam’s attempts to make a Don Quixote film. “Being in Jeddah means the chance to engage directly with audiences and see first-hand how the film plays,” said Darwin, who is attending a film festival in the Middle East for the first time.
Former BFI CEO Amanda Nevill is the sole non-Saudi member of the Saudi Film Commission and will spend her time in Jeddah “meeting individuals from countries that other festivals don’t reach”, including “homegrown Saudi filmmakers”.
“It has been fascinating and rewarding to be a small part of a country driving change at a breakneck speed,” said Nevill, who highlighted partnerships the Saudi Film Commission has made with film schools around the world, and “well-advanced” plans for a national film archive. “They know it will take time to develop. It’s a big aspiration, with a clear strategy of engaging with the international industry.”
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