Yousra to Asharq Al-Awsat: Saudi Arabia shines artistically and culturally

At the conclusion of the third session of the “Red Sea International Film Festival,” the film industry celebrated distinguished works of art, as the festival brought together many talented films, directors, and actors from different parts of the world, and witnessed the honoring of distinguished works.

Baz Luhrmann chaired this year’s jury for the “Red Sea Feature Film Competition,” in addition to the jury for the “Red Sea Short Film Competition,” which was headed by Hanaa Al-Omair. 14 categories were determined for the winners, and the competition included 17 feature films and 23 short films, competing among themselves for… Al Yusr Awards.

The Al-Sharq Award for Best Documentary in the competition was won by Kawthar Ben Hania for the film “Daughters of Olfat” with a prize worth 10,000 US dollars, Nour Al-Khadra won the Chopard Award for Best Rising Talent at the closing awards ceremony, and the Audience Award from the film “Al-Ula” went to the film “Hopeless,” directed by Kim Chang Hoon from South Korea, is worth $50,000, while “Noura” won the Best Saudi Film award, worth $50,000.

In the Red Sea Short Film Competition, “A Suitcase” by directors Saman Hosseinpour and Ako Karimi won the silver “Al Yusr” award worth $12,500, while “You Remember” by director Dalia Nemlesh won the gold “Al Yusr” award worth $25,000.

The movie “A Bad Omen” directed by Baloji won the best cinematic achievement, and Saleh Bakri won the best actor award for the movie “The Professor,” while Mona Hawa won the best actress award for the movie “God willing, a boy.”

The best screenplay award went to the film “Above the Shrine,” directed by Karim Ben Saleh and Jamal Belmahi, and its value was $10,000. For the film “Sunday,” Shokir Kholikov won the Best Direction Award, worth $10,000, and Farah Al-Nabulsi won the Jury Prize for her film, “The Professor,” worth $10,000.

The Silver “Al Yusr” Award for Long Film went to “Dear Jassie” by director Tarsem Singh Dhandwar, worth $30,000, while the Golden “Al Yusr” Award for Best Long Film went to “In the Flames” by director Zarrar Kan, worth $100,000.

The Al Yusr Awards are considered one of the largest awards in the region that are given to emerging and established voices in the fields of narrative, documentary and animated films. It is presented to talents from Saudi Arabia, the Arab world, Asia and Africa, in front of the international cinema community, which includes the best international talents in the field of films, which puts them on the map of world cinema.

Winning criteria

The jury of the Red Sea Short Film Competition was headed by Saudi writer and director Hanaa Al-Omair, French-Moroccan actor Asaad Bou Ab, and Turkish-German film director, screenwriter and producer Fatih Akin.

Hanaa Al-Omair told Asharq Al-Awsat, “The short films that participated in the festival in its third session were strong as a whole, and the choices were international and local. This matter was expected during the current session, and this is what actually happened.”

Al-Omair explained that what distinguished these films was the selection of their strong themes in addition to their artistic level and diversity, as films from Asia, Africa and the Arab world participated in addition to Saudi films, noting that the elite of cinema was found in this edition of the festival, and the standard of distinction and amazement was one of the most important standards. Developed by the jury to select the participating films and the award-winning films.

Honoring

At the closing ceremony, the festival screened the film “Ferrari” by director Michael Mann, one of the cinematic projects supported by the Red Sea Fund, and the “Al Yusr” Golden Honorary Award was given to the iconic Hollywood actor and Oscar winner Nicolas Cage, in recognition of his exceptional talents and contribution to the film industry. . The award was also received at the opening ceremony of the festival by the great artist Abdullah Al-Sadhan, actress Diane Kruger, and Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh. The horror comedy film “Dream Scenario”, directed by Christopher Broglie and starring Nicolas Cage, is scheduled to be shown at the end of the festival, on Saturday, December 9.

On this occasion, Jumana Al-Rashed, President of the Red Sea Film Foundation, said: “Over the past eight days, we welcomed our guests from all over the world to Jeddah and celebrated together the vibrant global film community. Our goal behind this is to build bridges between cultures and establish new relationships, by hosting more than 125 films from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Rwanda, Armenia, Malaysia, Pakistan, New Zealand, France, India, Thailand, and many other countries, in addition to… The Red Sea market programs included 348 submitted projects and 44 works in progress from more than 26 countries.

She added: “In fact, we are proud that we have established a place to meet ideas and businesses and share inspiration, to serve as a motivation for us for the coming year.”

For his part, Mohammed Al Turki, CEO of the Red Sea Film Foundation, said: “Today we celebrate together many successes at the closing ceremony of this year’s session of the festival, including hosting the Middle East premiere of the film supported by the Red Sea Fund – Ferrari – for the creative director. Michael Mann, in addition to our tribute to one of the brightest stars in Hollywood; The creative actor Nicolas Cage, in addition to us celebrating together the competitors in the Red Sea Long and Short Film Competition, and crowning the winners with the “Al Yusr” awards, let us conclude this unique tournament at an unprecedented high level.”

Different cycle

Artist Dhafer Abdeen told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The third session of the festival was distinguished by the high quality of films, organization, workshops, and dialogue sessions. All of these things developed the session and distinguished it from the previous two sessions, which proves that what is coming is more beautiful and better.”

Regarding his experience in the film “To My Son,” he said: “I enjoyed the experience of participating with Saudi stars, who shined in the film and excelled in their performances, and God willing, there will be multiple Saudi participations in future works,” describing the city of Abha, where most of the scenes were filmed, as the most beautiful areas in which He visited her.

Artist Elham Shaheen told Asharq Al-Awsat, “International film festivals give us the opportunity to learn about different cultures and watch various films from all over the world, through which we can understand people and learn about their societies, culture, economy, and politics.”

Elham Shaheen linked the measure of countries’ urbanization to the value and importance of the arts to them, not only in cinema, but also in theatre, television, music, plastic arts, singing, and writing as well.

Cooperation and exchange of experiences

Egyptian artist Sawsan Badr saw that the festival is an addition to international and Arab film festivals, and she told Asharq Al-Awsat: “This festival adds a lot to other festivals, and is interested in developing the general form of cultures and the language of dialogue with others and accepting them, even if its ideas differ from our Arab ideas, which is what is most important.” It is how we think about it, use it to our advantage, and exclude from it what is not in line with our principles and culture.”

Badr added that any Arab cooperation is an addition to the entire Arab region, as she believes that the common language is a great advantage that must be used technically as a means of soft power capable of change simply. Emphasizing that artistic works are capable of conveying messages on a large scale, and that raising issues in joint Arab works is the most powerful way to convey the Arab voice to the whole world in an enjoyable and purposeful artistic way.