The programme helped the participants at every stage of production, right from scriptwriting and budgeting to direction and even visual character development, including costume design.
AlUla Creates showcased the results of its first cohort at the Red Sea International Film Festival 2024. The cohort created three short films which were screened at the film festival which ran from December 5 to 14, 2024, in Jeddah. These included Malika, When the Shelves Hymn and the animation A Mosquito.
Funded by Film AlUla, the Royal Commission for AlUla’s film agency, the initiative is dedicated to nurturing Saudi Arabia’s female filmmakers and fashion designers. The inaugural programme received dozens of applications of which a handful were selected. The participants were then paired with mentors such as Haifaa Al Mansour, James Richardson and Jane Moore of Vertigo Films, and Roua Almadani of Film AlUla.
Speaking about the first cycle, Mahsa Motamedi, marketing director of Film AlUla, said: “We’re very excited to be completing the first cycle of AlUla Creates. We’re here to nurture and celebrate creativity and empower women in this in this region. I think we’ve been successful at that by showing how the participants made these short films and we’re showing it on an international platform.”
One of the short films, Malika, even competed at the festival. Directed by Maram Taibah, the film takes cues from Alice in Wonderland and Arabian Nights. It tells the story of Salma, a girl who sets out to find her grandmother’s lost crown so that she will be healthy again.
The programme helped the participants at every stage of production, right from scriptwriting and budgeting to direction and even visual character development, including costume design. For instance, the costumes of the film Malika were created by Atelier Hekayat, a fashion house founded by Alia and Abeer Oraif, who were also selected as part of AlUla Creates. The costumes for When the Shelves Hymn were designed by Arwa Al Arwa Al Ammari of the ArAm lable, another participant of the AlUla Creates programme.
All three films have secured distribution deals, and will be accessible to a larger audience soon.
