Saudi Gazette 

 

A red carpet will be rolled out Friday for the second film festival in the Kingdom in seven years.

 

More than 60 short films will compete for “Golden Palm Tree” trophies crowning best drama, documentary and student film categories at a gala event attended by film and television celebrities from around the Arab world, festival director Ahmed Al-Mulla said.

 

Screenings will take place in an arts center in Dammam.

 

The festival will also honor legendary Indian theater director  Ebrahim Alkazi for his contribution to the theater and bridging the gulf between the Middle East and the sub-continent. 

 

During the five-day festival nearly 66 films will be screened covering 34 different categories which will include feature films, documentaries and amateur productions. The festival, organized by Saudi Art and Culture Association, is being held under the auspices of the Ministry of Information and Culture. According to Ahmad Al-Mulla, director of the festival, in addition to screening of the films there will also be workshops where eminent film-makers will share their experiences with the new generation of film-makers. 

 

Ahmad Al-Mulla said the 66 films to be screened at the festival will be vying for the prize of SR180,000 which will be given as a finance to new project in any of the category. 

 

He said the festival aims at encouraging the Saudi youth to look into filmmaking career. The festival will augur a new cultural era in the region, he said. 

 

Chairman of the association Sultan Al-Baz’ie said: “The festival is part of a national program to give boost to the film industry and provide a platform to the youth to understand various intricacies of film-making, including the latest technologies that have taken world cinema to another level. 

 

Talking about the opening session, Al-Mulla said that it was an honor and privilege that celebrated Indian theater director Alkazi has agreed to join the festival. 

 

“We are not honoring him because of his past association with Saudi Arabia but for his legendary contribution to theater,” said a member of the association. 

 

Alkazi’s father was from Qassim region in Saudi Arabia and Alkazi always took pride in his roots.

 

Some of his students are luminaries of Indian theater and cinema like Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Rohini Hattangadi. 

Al-Mulla said that Alkazi will be a rich experience for the young and budding Saudis.

 

Among the films to be shown is “Grand Marriage”, a documentary directed by Faisal Al-Otaibi that tells the story of a two-week wedding ceremony taking place in the archipelago nation of the Comoros.

 

Haifaa Al-Mansour, the country’s first female film-maker, has been invited to attend but she lives outside Saudi Arabia and is unlikely to show up.

 

In 2013 her film “Wadjda” became the Kingdom’s first to be listed as a candidate for a foreign-language Oscar, although it did not make the final shortlist.

 

Without cinemas, “sadly there is no way” to show such films publicly in Saudi Arabia, Mulla said, though many end up on video websites such as YouTube. Others are sometimes featured at small, special screenings.

 

As well as no movie theaters, Saudi Arabia has no film industry to speak of, said Eyaf, who made an award-winning 2006 documentary “Cinema 500 km.” 

 

“The whole system is not there,” Eyaf said, adding that having a festival is “one of the most important things” in trying to develop a film culture.

 

This year’s event comes seven years after the first Saudi Film Festival, which Mulla also directed.

 

He was vague about why so many years passed between events, but said this year’s festival was organized “in the right way.”

 

Mulla expects an overflow audience at the society’s 600-capacity screening hall on Friday’s opening night.

 

Mulla said the festival entries cover a wide range of subjects including crime, society and history. There is even an animated movie and a “very strong” film about human rights.

 

He said that the festival must ensure it respects Saudi Arabia’s culture and traditions.

 

“I think we can screen anything political,” he said.

 

Mulla said he hopes cinemas will one day open in the Kingdom because film is “part of culture, part of loving life”.

 

But first, he said, film lovers will need to convince “people who are scared of art and culture”. — With inputs from AFP