The Red Sea International film festival unveiled Thursday the new date for its inaugural edition, which was initially set to be held in March 2020, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
However, the festival became one of the early casualties of the coronavirus pandemic. Almost a year to the day that the festival was canceled organizers revealed that the festival will now take place November 11- 20.
The inaugural edition of the Festival will take place in the UNESCO world heritage site of Jeddah Old Town in the cosmopolitan city on the Red Sea Coast, which will be held under the auspices of the newly launched Ministry of Culture and under the theme of "Metamorphosis".
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Jeddah Old Town in the cosmopolitan city on the Red Sea Coast[/caption]
The edition will celebrate cinema as a force for positive change, while also reflecting on the blossoming local and regional scenes.
The festival will open with the world premiere of Saudi feature film “Shams al-Maaref” (The Book of Sun), which is directed by the Godus Brothers. The film will also compete in the festival's "In Competition" category.
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A scene from “Shams al-Maaref”[/caption]
The festival was the brainchild of Saudi director Mahmoud Sabbagh, however, he stepped down from his role to focus on his own projects, after several months from its postponement. Another festival director is yet to be announced.
The festival's current team is led by managing director Shivani Pandya and director of Arab programs and film classics Antoine Khalife, both formerly of the Dubai International Film Festival. Film critic Kaleem Aftab has joined as director of international programming, while Jumana Zahid leads the Red Sea Lodge, the Red Sea Film Foundation's incubator for Saudi and Arab filmmakers, now in its second edition.
More details are set to be revealed in the coming months.
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