Discoveries from Saudi Arabia World Cinema

Musucal child play.

اول ليالي الصيف هو عن شخص يجد نفسه في محطة انتظار في اول ليله له في الصيف . First Nights of Summer is about a guy who finds himself at a bus station on his first night of summer.

A kid finds himself in school at night. what could possibly go wrong?

A documentary that follows an unnamed neighborhood in Mecca and how it affects the place and people.

The Flamer's Mob* is a high-octane action thriller set in Saudi Arabia, pitting a local Saudi gang, *The Flamer's Mob*, against the infamous Yakuza from Japan. The story revolves around a clash of cultures, power, and revenge, as the Yakuza arrives in Saudi Arabia to settle a score over money and dominance. The film will showcase the vibrant and diverse landscapes of Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh, AlUla, NEOM, and Khobar, while delivering intense action sequences, gripping drama, and a deep exploration of loyalty and honor.

Six customers are in the post office when a 50-year-old employee collapses and dies. When an ambulance arrives, the paramedics in attendance conclude that he died of natural causes. The six witnesses all doubt this, each interpreting this sudden death from a personal point of view. One young man tells his psychiatrist he believes it was suicide; another witness accuses the dead man of drinking too much coffee; yet another is convinced he worked himself into the grave out of devotion to his family. Each story says way more about the teller than it does about the man who died.

A group of TikTok content creators unexpectedly achieve viral fame after filming their friend eating rotten food. Eat, throw up, eat something else: it’s a great joke. But, as they move from spinach pizza to sushi, their chosen video star begins to suffer some horrible side-effects from all that decaying food. Blinded by their newfound success, the friends ignore his condition, even when he ends up in hospital. It is only when he falls out of his wheelchair that his friend decides to make a stand and save him from the terror of the trash can.

Desperate for a cigarette after her sister forces her to quit smoking, failed actress Nour spirals through a lavish birthday party thrown against her will, teetering on the edge of sanity as she hunts for a cigarette to calm her nerves.

Thirty years ago, H.H. Prince Faisal bin Abdullah sought out Saudi Arabia's creative minds to showcase the nation's heritage through art. His efforts led to the founding of the Layan Cultural Foundation, which now preserves this legacy for future generations in Saudi Arabia and has sponsored major exhibitions elsewhere, including a history of the horse at the British Museum, photographic displays of Saudi Arabia’s extraordinary archaeological heritage and works by new artists not previously seen outside the country.

Kemo was born into a family of artists and photographers in Jeddah, but he feels torn between art forms and between the artist’s life and the kind of conventional life where he would just do a job. Do I pursue art and colours? Or does he pursue the renegade art of graffiti that he has discovered on the internet? Blue pill or red pill? he asks himself. Confused about his place in the world, he knows the only way forward is to keep working.

A Bedoui and a Jeddawi friends explore the desert together.

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The story follows a lonesome middle-aged man who works as a driver for hire (which is a common side hustle in Saudi Arabia for people looking to earn more money), the main character goes through a series of circumstances that force him to make difficult decisions.

The film tells the story of Abraha's attempt to demolish the Kaaba in the Year of the Elephant, the year in which the Messenger of God was born. Abraha advances towards the Kaaba killing women and children. Abdul Muttalib confronts Abraha and the men of Quraish help him to prevent him from demolishing Kaaba.

A young woman living out of the city goes on two crucial road trips, one with her father, and the other with her fiancé to his parents house in the city. Upon arriving, she comes to question everything she thought she knew about him, and herself. "Does It Hurt Too Bad to Look at Me?" invites audiences to reflect on the fragility of relationships, the influence of parents on our choices, and self exploration.

The aeroplanes are stationary, nothing moves, nothing takes off at the US military airbase in Arizona – until a young woman in a white dress begins to jump on a trampoline outside the fence, framed by an idyllic sunset. She conveys her story from the silent offscreen – only through subtitles. Having come from Saudi Arabia, she is stuck in the US because her father stole her identity papers. So homesick that she is considering drastic measures to get back home, she almost enlists in the military. But the US Army is suspicious and would not station her, a risk factor, anywhere near the Middle East. But there is a Baghdad in Arizona, too …

In a moment, life seemed under threat from a lethal disease-mosques, schools, airports, and homes all closed their doors. Yet, with a glimmer of hope and relentless effort, the story took a different turn. This film offers a perspective on how Saudi society navigated the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The television evening revolves around Nawal, a married woman, who became a cruel lady after receiving her inheritance from her father, and is severely forced on her brother and everyone around her

Short documentary about Quwaizah neighborhood in Jeddah. Quwaizah is one of the evacuated neighborhoods, which were regarded as "slums" to be demolished and repurposed for large scale urban remodelling.

Ali, a prisoner suffering from amnesia, decides to engage in a game built upon his memory to retrieve his past in the film.

"Voices of AlUla" is a film about sound in the desert of Al-Ula, through intimate stories, tales of the road, the features of nature, and the vastness of the desert. Directed by Mitoshka Alkova.

The Eihla emerges as a mysterious entity wandering among the sites of social customs and traditions production, showcasing their declining significance and loss.

"Donkey Race" film documents the juxtaposition between the race that used to take place in Al-Ahsa and the socially frowned-upon culture of donkeys.

"Breath-Holding" and diving to a depth of 100 meters underwater without breathing apparatus, that's the adventure undertaken by the diver Omar Al-Ghilani.

The film "Day" is about the solitude and breakdown experienced by a man in his seventies, as the world around him changes while he continues to diminish.

After his mother leaves the unique palace in the city of Al-Ula, the boy 'Musaned' tries to understand the mysterious message she left for him.

A Core Memory is a celebration of talent, creativity, and the remarkable stories born out from Red Sea International Film Festival's 48Hr Film Challenge of relentless filmmaking passion.

Video work by Sarah Abu Abdallah

Anhar, her sister Ansam and friends attempt to explore the modern part of Al-Balad in Jeddah. Anhar Salem documents herself walking for the first time in her car-oriented city.

In an underground cinephile's basement, you'll be whisked away to fantastical worlds on a mind-bending fantasy ride.

A teenager experienced a traumatic event that profoundly altered both her behavior and her perspective on life

A short documentary film that highlights camel culture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Two children, Layali and Shadi, navigate the harsh realities of war and its profound impact on their lives

Mashallah. Why Did You Cross The Indian Ocean? features interviews with two pairs of Indo-Hadhrami mothers and daughters living in Jeddah.The women routinely gather in Salem’s mother’s living room – a site of informal commerce through which women from the artist’s community would buy and sell various ethnic goods, crafts and food. These conversations unravel in a playful manner wherein the women share a meal and recount their experiences of migrating to Jeddah – navigating a new culture and supporting the economic, emotional, and physical wellbeing of their families, while implementing and preserving their matrilineal values and traditions.

Filmmaker Nouf Aljowaysir found it impossible to give a clear answer to the question “where are you from?” since she was 13, when she went to live in the US. She was born in Saudi Arabia; her family originally came from Iraq. These are not just places you can point to on a map, search for on Google or look up in Wikipedia. They are also personal memories, smells, family ties and things that simply can’t be explained in a single sentence.

A History of the Arabian Peninsula

While Majed (30 years) is trying to find a way to express his concerns and feelings, many obstacles stand in his way, so he decides to try what is possible and not possible to express his feelings, even if it is on his behalf!

Saudi short documentary about the evacuation of a neighbourhood.

Marco finds himself in a maze between reality and virtual reality as he seeks to meet the girl he met on social media.

Reminiscing about the past.

Thousands of refugee women from the middle east endure the uncertainty of their future and face various psychological and physiological problems due to stress in their life. Intisar Foundation is helping these women overcome their trauma through drama therapy.

There are believed to be some one hundred thousand children that have been fending for themselves since the battle against ISIS. From orphans in the streets of Mosul to “the children of ISIS,” whose families had pledged allegiance to the caliphate. Since their existence is not legally recognized, they have no I.D., and therefore no access to education, medical care, or food assistance.Since the fall of ISIS, tens of thousands of children have also been held in camps along with the most radicalized of the women. They are living in catastrophic sanitary and humanitarian conditions that have only worsened with the Covid-19 crisis. An unprecedented investigation into a generation of young victims of the war against the Islamic State. How can we help them to believe in the future and to find a place in society, so that they do not become a threat to the international community?

Ten years after the failed revolution of Tahrir Square in Egypt, Al-Sisi’s regime continues to practice forced disappearance, imprisonment without trial, torture. Shaimaa and Ahmed, activists in exile, and Mohamed Lotfy, who still live in Cairo, continue to fight to denounce the current government and those who, masquerading behind declarations of façade, arm and finance it.