When Johnny Depp returned to the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival last week, his movie “Jean de Barry” and other films enjoyed a prominent Saudi contribution that “deserves thanks”, according to Bloomberg Agency.
Jean du Barry and two other films produced with Saudi contributions are competing for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
It was not only the film sector in which Saudi Arabia emerged with its money, but also by sponsoring many events in the French city of Cannes during the festival.
Saudi Arabia’s pavilion at the Magche du Film, or Film Market, an event that runs alongside the Cannes festival where filmmakers search for buyers, was among the largest pavilions welcoming visitors on a terrace overlooking the White Sea. average.
quotes bloomberg On the authority of Saudi film officials attending the Cannes Festival, the kingdom has come to consider cinema as a way to change “foreign misconceptions about the country.”
The officials added that the transformation into a regional cinematic powerhouse is a possible first step, considering that the “Cannes Festival” is an opportunity to appear and show willingness to expand locally and abroad.
The Kingdom’s Cultural Development Fund announced two funds worth $180 million for production infrastructure and investment in the film industry, Variety reported.
Najla Al-Numeir, CEO of Strategy and Business Development at the Saudi Cultural Fund, said, in an interview with the Saudi Al-Ikhbariya channel, that the goal of establishing these funds is to invest in content production, provide more liquidity for investors and stimulate the private sector in the film sector.
She added, “We welcome local and international investors to partner with us in investment opportunities in the promising film sector.”
The kingdom’s expansion into cinema was unimaginable a few years ago.
In the early 1980s, films were banned under pressure from religious conservatives, and Saudis had to travel to Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates to see a movie in the cinema.
In late 2017, Saudi Arabia removed a decades-old ban on establishing cinemas in the country.
The Kingdom is currently looking forward to the annual revenues of the box office exceeding one billion dollars, increasing the volume of domestic production to 70 films each year, and bringing the number of theaters to 350, including 2,500 cinema screens, by 2030, with the industry expected to contribute about $ 24 billion to the economy, and adding more than 30,000 permanent jobs.
Last year, 11 Saudi films were shown in cinemas, compared to only 7 films in 2021, and those in charge of the industry view the production of local content as a major key to the growth of the box office, after relying exclusively on foreign films to attract audiences. Egyptian films also account for 30% of the Saudi box office, which makes them a focus of interest for cinematic content production companies in the Kingdom.
And Bloomberg believes that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is carrying out reforms to improve the image of the Kingdom, as he invests heavily in industries outside the main sector of the country, which is oil production, after events that tarnished the country’s image such as the war in Yemen and the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, as well as violations of human rights. human and imprison opponents.
And “Star” is among the promising Saudi companies and is owned by writer and comedian Ibrahim Al-Khairallah. It concluded an eight-film deal with “Netflix” in 2020, in an early sign that Hollywood sees opportunities in the Kingdom and the Arabic-speaking countries.
Bloomberg believes that the biggest success of the Red Sea Fund, which is an arm of the Red Sea International Film Festival, which the Kingdom launched in 2019 in Jeddah, is the return of Depp in a French-language drama worth 20 million euros ($ 21.6 million).
In a press conference, the film’s director, French-Algerian, Mayouen, said that her film was difficult to finance before the emergence of the Red Sea Fund.
The Red Sea Fund has supported more than 100 films, with a total of $14 million. It targets directors of Arab or African descent, according to its website.
