Two projects will receive $100,000 production grants at the second edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival in December.
The Red Sea International Film Festival (RedSeaIFF) has selected 12 projects from new voices from Saudi Arabia and the wider Arab region for the Red Sea Lodge 2022.
Red Sea Lodge is a mentoring programme in collaboration with the Torino Film Lab, which is a key part of the festival’s drive to support and promote talent.
At the first edition of the festival in December, the Red Sea Lodge 2021 winners The Zarqa Girl by Zaid Abuhamdan and The Photographer of Madina’by Dalyah Bakheet each received a grant of $100,000.
The Red Sea Lodge schedule is made up of five intensive labs designed to take a diversity of talent at the early stages of their career through the essentials of filmmaking to bring authentic stories to the screen.
The eight month-programme has been designed to nurture and support emerging talent, improve access to Arab content and drive the potential of Arab talent on the international stage. The final workshop will take place during the second edition of the festival, which is scheduled to run from December 1-10 in Jeddah.
Of the 12 projects selected, six are from Saudi Arabia while the other projects are from Egypt, Algeria, and Lebanon, with 50% of the participants directed, produced, and written by women.
The selection committee features leading industry experts, including Savina Neirotti; Executive Director, TorinoFilmLab, Violeta Bava; Head of Studies, TorinoFilmLab, Jumana Zahid; Red Sea Lodge Manager, Shivani Pandya Malhotra; Managing Director of the Red Sea International Festival, Antoine Khalife; Director of the Arab Program, Red Sea International Film Festival, and Kaleem Aftab; Director of International Programming, Red Sea International Film Festival.
Also supporting the committee is Faiza Amba, Saudi Arabian film writer-director; Mohammad Sayed, Egyptian Film critic and scriptwriter and Ziad Seaibi, Lebanese actor and lecturer at the Notre Dame University.
Speaking about the projects, Shivani Pandya Malhotra, Managing Director of the Red Sea International Festival, said: “Together with the Torino Film Lab we are thrilled to be unveiling the next 12 unique projects for The Red Sea Lodge. The feedback from past participants has been very encouraging and this year’s selection is an exciting slate of projects with bold cultural and social ambitions from a diverse selection of voices. The Red Sea Lodge is now building momentum and proving to be a vital support initiative which helps Arab talent to reach new heights in their film careers and ultimately amplify the impact of Saudi and Arab film around the world.”
The selected projects from Saudi Arabia are Seasons of Love & War based on the novel ‘Divers of the Desert’ written by Amal Alfaran, Director/Screenplay Hana Alomair, Co-Writer/Producer Soha Samir, A Last Argument Against Youth by Writer-Director Mohemmed Algbreen, The Crow Nest, by Writer/Director Feras Almusharrei, Al Qais by Writer/Director Lujain Hussain, Tahweedah by Writer/Director Omar Al Omirat, and Yajuj: Curse Of Iram; by director Fahmi Farahat,
The projects from the wider Arab world include The Settlement (Egypt – France) by Writer/Director Mohamed Rashad, A Quarter To Thursday In Algiers (Algeria – France) by Writer/Director Sofia Djama, Aurélie Turc, Cain And Abel (Egypt – USA – France) by director Dina Amer, Dogmas (France – Algeria) by Writer/Director Salah Issaad, Bubblegum Brigades (Lebanon) by director Samah El Kadi, and Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore (Egypt) by Writer/Director Morad Mostafa.
The second edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival will run in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from December 1-10, 2022.
