First Netflix and AFAC stepped up to support the region’s film scene, now the Red Sea Film Festival has taken an even bigger plunge. The Saudi Arabian initiative announced a $10 million fund for Arab and African filmmakers.
The fund is set to support over 100 feature films in its first year, marking a game-changing era for the region’s emerging talents. Whether it’s fiction, documentary or animation you’re working on, the Red Sea Film Festival is here for it. The fund will also be available for those working on episodic content as well as short films made by Saudi nationals.
“Helping African and Arab cinema grow, that’s a very exciting responsibility,” said Edouard Waintrop, the festival’s newly appointed art director to announce the fund.
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“That’s what the Red Sea Fund will do at every stage of the making of the chosen movies and episodic content. In providing more than 100 grants to help the development, production and post-production of movies across the Arab World and Africa, the Red Sea Fund will help cinema that is in full metamorphosis,” he continued.
The inaugural edition of the festival is due to take place on November 11 of this year in Al Balad, Jeddah’s historic downtown. To kick it off, the organization will host what they’ve dubbed ‘Red Sea Souk’, a marketplace and industry hub for the region. The ‘souk’ will see a marketplace complete with pitching sessions for more than 20 projects from the region as well as a films-in-progress workshop.
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Projects participating in the Red Sea Souk market will compete for the Red Sea Development and Production Awards amounting from $25,000 to $100,000.
Image: @warchieff & @meshalaljaser on the set of Arabian Allien
