Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fund has unveiled its latest round of feature film grants from the Arab world and Africa.
The announcement comes just days after the fund revealed it had they boarded The upcoming costume drama from French director Maïwenn Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp, in the first European investment as an executive producer.
In the latest round of funding for Arab and African directors, it is behind 36 productions by Saudi, Arab and African directors, 25 in or on the verge of production, 11 in post-production.
The 25 production grant winners include upcoming films from established directors such as Abderrahmane Sissako‘small The Perfumed HillHaifaa Al-Mansour’s Miss Camel, Annemarie JacirKaouther Ben Hania’s Mime, Cherien Dabisand Karim Moussaoui The Vanishing.
The fund has also been behind busy, emerging talent like Saudi filmmaker Sara Mesfer, who is preparing for her first solo feature Habibi and I in Eden.
Two of the films selected were previously supported in development by the fund, Joel Karekezi Captain Bayer and Aicha by Mehdi M. Barsaoui, who won several awards with his debut in 2019 A son.
The 11 post-production grantees include Floating in the void, the third film by Mohamed Ben Attia, whose feature debut Hedi best first film at Berlinale in 2016. Tawfik Alzaidi’s Noura, produced by Paul Miller, and Karim Bensalah’s Blacklight, which won the Venice Final Cut last year.
The Red Sea Fund falls under the umbrella of the Jeddah-based Red Sea International Film Festival Foundation, which also oversees the Red Sea International Film Festival in December.
“We are confident that the Red Sea Funds will support the winners through the creative process to share these important stories and showcase a range of exciting new and established talent from Saudi Arabia, Arabia and Africa,” said the director consultant to the Mohammed Al-Turki Foundation.
The complete list of films financed.
Production
Mehal Safari
Directed by: Abraham Gezahagne. Feature Fiction (Ethiopia, Canada, Denmark)
The Wandering Souls Of Kinshasa
Directed by Dieudo Hamadi. Episodic (Democratic Republic of Congo, France)
Captain Bayer
Directed by Joel Karekezi. Fiction (Rwanda)
Sidi Kaba And The Gateway Home
Directed by: Rony Hotin. Feature Animation (France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Germany)
Aicha
Directed by Mehdi M. Barsaoui. Fiction (Tunisia, France, Saudi Arabia)
Thank you for baking with us!
Directed by: Laila Abbas. Fiction (Palestine)
Big Boys Don’t Cry
Directed by Muhammad Mustapha. Feature Documentary (Egypt, Germany)
Looking for the shelter for Mr. Rambo
Directed by Khaled Mansour. Fiction (Egypt)
Mime
Directed by Kaouther Ben Hania. Fiction (France, Tunisia)
Hunting dogs
Directed by Kamal Lazraq. Feature fiction (Morocco).
Amina
Directed by Nora El Hurtz. Feature fiction (Morocco).
The Perfumed Hill
Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako. Feature Fiction (Mauritania, France, Luxembourg, Taiwan ROC)
The Vanishing
Directed by Karim Moussaoui. Fiction (Algeria)
Yunnan
Directed by: Ameer Fakher Eldin. Fiction (Germany, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, France, Italy)
Fifty meters
Directed by Yomna Khattab. Feature Documentary (Egypt).
The Walled-Off Hotel VR Experience
Directed by Amer Shomali. Immersive (Palestine, Germany, Netherlands)
She wasn’t alone
Directed by: Hussein Al-Asadi. Feature Documentary (Iraq)
Men in the Sun
Directed by Mahdi Fleifel. Fiction (UK, Greece, Netherlands, Palestine, Denmark)
The 67th Summer
Directed by Abu Bakr Shawky. Feature Literature (Egypt, France, Austria)
Habibi and I in Eden
Directed by Sara Mesfer. Short Literature (Saudi Arabia, Qatar)
Miss Camel
Directed by Haifa Al Mansoor. Feature Animation (Saudi Arabia)
Al-Daar
Directed by: Abdullah Bamajboor. Fiction (Saudi Arabia)
3 Cold Dishes
Directed by Oluseyi Asurf and Apoline Traoure. Fiction (Nigeria)
All that’s left of you
Directed by Cherien Dabis. Feature Fiction (Germany, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, Cyprus and Saudi Arabia)
All in front of you
Directed by Annemarie Jacir. Fiction (Saudi Arabia, Palestine, United Kingdom).
After production
Nora
Directed by: Tawfik Alzaidi. Fiction (Saudi Arabia)
Black light
Directed by: Karim Bensalah. Feature fiction (Algeria, France)
Behind the scenes
Directed by Afef Ben Mahmoud and Khalil Benkirane. Feature fiction (Morocco, Tunisia, Belgium, France)
Spring burst into laughter
Directed by Noha Adel. Fiction (Egypt)
Hackers Of Borders
Directed by: Mohamed Ismail Louati. Feature Documentary (Tunisia, France, Germany, Lebanon)
Concrete Earth
Directed by Asmahan Bkerat. Feature Documentary (Jordan)
Country of Women
Directed by Ayman El Amir and Nada Riyadh. Feature Documentary (Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar)
Third
Directed by: Karim Kassem. Feature Documentary (Lebanon)
A city below zero
Directed by Medoo Ali. Feature Documentary (Iraq)
A Fidai movie
Directed by Kamal Aljafari. Feature Documentary (Palestine, Germany)
floating in space
Directed by: Mohamed Ben Attia. Fiction (Tunisia)
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