Saudi Film Festival 2024

The Saudi Film Festival 2024 is the tenth edition of the Saudi Film Festival, organized by the Saudi Cinema Association in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) and supported by the Film Commission under the Ministry of Culture. It was held in Dhahran City, in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, over an eight-day period from May 2-9, 2024.

The tenth edition of the Saudi Film Festival introduced competitions focused on the development of film structures and screenplays. It also expanded its film screening programs to include a selection of films on both global and local levels. Additionally, the festival offered enriching cultural programs, including several seminars such as the Honored Personality Seminar and the Support Funds Seminar. The festival also provided various training workshops, including the Independent Filmmaking Workshop with Global Techniques and the Art of Performance for Camera Workshop. Moreover, it created a platform for production companies, producers, and filmmakers to support their projects in the production market. The festival also featured the publication and translation of books as part of its knowledge series.

A total of 826 entries were registered for this edition of the festival, including 224 for the film competitions, 483 for the unproduced screenplay competition, and 119 for the production market competition.

The Saudi Film Festival 2024 offered a variety of programs, including: film screenings, virtual production experiences, a photo booth, a production market, panel discussions, masterclasses, the Saudi Film Festival Museum, a red carpet event, and book signings.

The tenth edition of the festival featured a variety of film screening programs, including Competing Films (showcasing films nominated to compete for festival awards in the film competitions) and Parallel Films (a curated selection of films that did not qualify for the competition but are presented to support emerging filmmakers and maintain a broad platform for communication among a larger segment of them).

Science fiction cinema was the focus of the Saudi Film Festival 2024, featuring a selection of international short films and offering training workshops on the topics of science fiction and fantasy. The festival also highlighted the experience of Indian cinema through the Spotlight on Indian Cinema program, which showcased independent Indian films with their creators in attendance, in addition to attracting industry experts to conduct a practical workshop and a cultural seminar.

The Children's Program offered an interactive cinema experience for children, featuring film screenings, meetings with Saudi film stars, and a guided educational tour of the Ithra Center. The program's screenings were presented to school students and children in general who visited the center.

The Story of the Saudi Film Festival 2024 Museum showcased the beginnings of the Saudi Film Festival, detailing its events and series of achievements since its inception in 2008. The museum also highlighted the experiences and contributions of artists who played a role in shaping a promising era for those interested in the film industry.

The museum displayed the total number of entries from the first edition in 2008 to the tenth edition in 2024. A total of 1,444 films were submitted to the film competitions, and 2,162 screenplays were entered into the unproduced screenplay competition. The production market attracted 289 projects, and 155 awards were distributed. The festival, from its inception until the ninth edition in 2023, drew more than 165,000 local and international visitors.

The museum showcased details about the winners, including numbers and the names of the films that won in the various competitions It also featured the names of honored pioneers in the arts, along with other individuals who made significant contributions to theater and cinema. The museum included a dedicated space for its publications, alongside an area for film screenings from the festival's archive, presented through digital screens equipped with headphones, allowing visitors the opportunity to watch the films.

The Film Commission participated in the tenth edition of the Saudi Film Festival with a pavilion that showcased the commission's vision, goals, and strategies for developing the film sector, along with the projects and initiatives it has implemented. The pavilion also highlighted the films supported by the commission through the Daw' Film Support Program, which were categorized into two types: animated films, featuring "The Menace from Above" and "Saleeg", and feature films, including "Within Sand", "Hajjan", and "Salem's Disappearance" These films were supported by the commission through the commission's incentives program.

The Saudi Film Festival 2024 selected Saudi actor Abdulmohsen al-Nimr as the honored personality for this edition of the festival. He is one of the pioneers of cinema in the Kingdom and the Arabian Gulf, recognized for his prominent presence on screen for over forty years and his skilled portrayal of characters with diverse psychological and social dimensions.

The festival also celebrated the opening of Cinematheque al-Khubar, which houses the administrative headquarters of the Cinema Association, and highlighted the experience of Syrian director Mohammed Malas, in recognition of his achievements in the field of cinema.

The Saudi Film Festival restructured the submission process for its tenth edition to include: the Film Competition, the Unproduced Screenplay Competition, and the Production Market Projects Competition. The updated competition structure focused on increasing competitiveness, with film and screenplay submissions being nominated by the festival's technical committee to compete for awards and be showcased at the festival. The tenth edition's competitions featured a total of thirty-seven awards. A Golden Palm Award for Best Second Animation Film was added to the Short Film Competition to encourage animation filmmakers, and a Golden Palm Award for Best Film about the Saudi Environment was introduced in the Documentary Film Competition.

The tenth edition of the festival presented awards across several categories, including: awards for the Feature Film Competition, awards for the Short Film Competition, awards for the Documentary Film Competition, awards for the Unproduced Screenplay Competition, and grants for Production Market projects.

The Documentary Film Competition awards were distributed as follows: the Golden Palm for Gulf Documentary Film was awarded to "Bar Saar" by Mohammed Jassim; the Jabal Tuwaiq Award for Best Film about a Saudi City was given to "Voices of al-Ula" by Mitoshka Alkova; the film "al-Ihila" by Mohammed al-Mubarak received a special mention from the jury; the Golden Palm for Unique Documentary Subject went to "Aseer Memory" by Saeed Tahitah; the Golden Palm for Best Film about the Saudi Environment was awarded to "Horizon" by Fabien Lemaire; the Golden Palm for the Jury Prize was given to "Underground" by Abdulrahman Sandokji; and finally, Mohammed Baqer won the Golden Palm for Best Documentary for his film "Donkey Race".

In the feature film awards category, the Golden Palm for Foreign Narrative Feature was awarded to "The Burdened" by Amr Mohamed. The same film also received a Special Jury Prize for Acting in Gulf Films. The Golden Palm for Best Musical Composition went to Amin Bouhafa for the film "Hajjan". Christian Pinto won the Golden Palm for Best Editing for "It's Always That Feeling". The Golden Palm for Best Actress was awarded to Tulane Issam for her role in "Hajjan", directed by Abu Bakr Shawky. Omar al-Atwi, who also starred in "Hajjan", received the Golden Palm for Best Actor. The film "Hajjan" additionally won the Golden Palm for the Jury Prize. Meanwhile, the Golden Palm for Best Feature Film went to "Within Sand" by Mohammed al-Atawi, and the Golden Palm for Best Cinematography was awarded to Ahmed al-Sufyani and Ricardo Gale for their work on "Within Sand".

The Short Film Competition awards were distributed as follows: the Abdullah al-Muheisen Award for First Film went to "Basira" by Abdulaziz al-Hussein; the Golden Palm for Best First Animation Film was awarded to "Musnad" by Abdulrahman Saleh; the Golden Palm for Best Actor was given to Muhannad al-Saleh for his role in "Basira";the Golden Palm for the Jury Prize was awarded to "Me & Aydarous " by Sarah Balghonaim; the Golden Palm for Best Short Film was awarded to the story by Saleh Zaki al-Abdullah; the Golden Palm for Best Actress went to Aida Al-Qusai for her role in "Me & Aydarous "; the Golden Palm for Best Cinematography was awarded to the film "Bakhroosh" by Radwan Jamal; the Golden Palm for Best Second Animation Film was given to "In Between" by Ethar Ba'amer; and the Golden Palm for Best Gulf Narrative Short Film went to "A Beautiful Excuse For A Deadly Sin" by Hashim Sharaf".