80 films participate in its eighth session at Ithra Theater
The activities of the eighth edition of the “Saudi Films” festival, organized by the Cinema Society, in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), and with the support of the Film Authority of the Ministry of Culture, will be launched at the “Ithraa” theater. Ibrahim Al-Hajjaj, in the presence of a number of local, Gulf and international filmmakers and stars, and the festival’s activities will continue until the 9th of this month.
The current session of the festival is witnessing the screening of 80 films, with 28 films competing in the short film competition, while 8 films compete in the feature film competition, in addition to 44 parallel screenings, including 12 selected poetic films from around the world.
The opening ceremony will begin with the artistic performance “The Magic of Imagination,” followed by the opening speech by the Director of the Cinema Association, director Hana Al-Omair, and then by the Enrichment Center’s speech by Mr. Hussein Hanbaza. The ceremony will also include a segment honoring the first Saudi Hollywood star Khalil Al-Rawaf, and the first Kuwaiti director Khaled Al-Siddiq, for their great impact on the world of the film industry in the Kingdom and the Gulf.
The festival’s screenings will open with the movie “Old Phone Number”, written and directed by Ali Saeed, and starring Yaqoub Al-Farhan. The script of this film won the award for the best short film script in the script lab held by the festival in its seventh session.
In this session, the festival will hold five training workshops, presented by a group of experienced specialists and academics, with a total of 43 hours, including: directing, acting, production, distribution, and soundtracks, in addition to the script development lab, which was designed with the aim of developing and discussing a number of projects. Saudi cinema, and prepare it practically for the production market.
The task of judging the awards in its three tracks: long films, short films, and the unexecuted script. 9 members of the elite film specialists, 4 of whom are Saudis, including two specialized women, while the rest of the members hold different nationalities from Arab and foreign experiences. .
On the sidelines of the festival, 9 seminars will be held discussing: the Saudi novel in cinema, the concept of Saudi film, the poetry of cinema and its aesthetics, in addition to a “Master Class” seminar on legal dealings in global broadcasting platforms, and the rest of the seminars in the production market, which will start its activities tomorrow.