Saudi Arabia banned cinema for 35 years. The Red Sea Festival is just one sign of the industry’s rise

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — “My Driver and I” was supposed to be made in 2016, but was scuttled in the middle Cinema ban in Saudi Arabia for decades. Eight years later, the kingdom’s cinematic landscape is much different – and the “My Driver and I” star now has a price.

Roula Dakheelallah was named the winner of the Chopard Emerging Saudi Talent Award at Red Sea International Film Festival THURSDAY. This award – and the glitzy festival itself – is a sign of Saudi Arabia’s commitment to shaping a new film industry.

“My heart is attached to cinema and art; I’ve always dreamed of a moment like this,” Dakheelallah, who still works 9 to 5, told The Associated Press before the awards ceremony. “I used to work in films as a volunteer and help my friends out in the field, but this is my first big role in a film.”

The reopening of cinemas in 2018 marked a cultural turning point for Saudi Arabia, an absolute monarchy which had introduced the ban 35 years earlier, under the influence of ultraconservative religious authorities. Since then, he has invested heavily in the local film industry by building theaters and launching programs to support local filmmakers through grants and training.

The Red Sea International Film Festival was launched a year later, as part of an attempt to expand Saudi influence in cinema, gaming, sports and other cultural areas. Activists have denounced the investments as whitewashing the kingdom’s human rights record, as it tightly controls speech and remains one of the world’s leading perpetrators. With the FIFA award the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia this week, Lina al-Hathloul, a Saudi activist With the London-based rights group ALQST, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman “has really managed to create this bubble where people only see entertainment and don’t see the reality on the ground.”

These efforts are part of Vision 2030, an ambitious reform plan unveiled in 2016 to ease the economy’s dependence on oil. As part of this, Saudi Arabia plans to build 350 cinemas with more than 2,500 cinema screens. Last April, in 22 cities, it already had 66 cinemas showing films from the local film industry, as well as Hollywood and Bollywood. (The Red Sea International Film Festival attracts a wealth of talent from the latter industries, with Viola Davis And Priyanka Chopra Jonas also winning awards on Thursday.)

Facilities are one part of the equation – the content itself is another. One of the major players in the transformation of Saudi cinema was Telfaz11, a media company founded in 2011, which started as a YouTube channel and quickly became a trendsetter. By producing high-quality digital content such as short films, comedy sketches and series, Telfaz11 has offered new perspectives on Saudi and regional issues.

In 2020, Telfaz11 signed a partnership with Netflix to produce original content for the streaming giant. The result has been films that demonstrate an evolution in storytelling, tackling once off-limits and audience-sensitive topics like secret nightlife in “Mandoob” (“Night Courier”) and changing social norms in “Naga.” .

“I think we tell our stories in a very simple way, and that’s what reaches the world,” Elshehri says of this shift. “When you tell your story in a natural way, without any affectation, it will touch everyone. »

But the films have not been without their critics, drawing mixed reactions. Discourse on social media ranged from pleasure that Saudi films tackled such topics to anger at how the films reflected conservative society.

As Hana Al-Omair, a Saudi writer and director, points out, many stories still remain untold.

“We certainly have a lot of time ahead of us before we can tell the Saudi narrative the right way,” she said, acknowledging that there are still obstacles and widespread censorship. “The Goat Life”, a Malayalam-language film about an Indian forced to work without pay in Saudi Arabia, is not available on the Netflix platform in the country. Films that explore political topics or LGBTQ+ stories are essentially out of the question.