RIYADH (Agencies)
Saudi Arabia will hold its first official film festival, to be underwritten by the government, in May, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
There have been smaller and informal movie screenings in recent years in the kingdom, where movie theaters are banned, but the contest will mark the first time film critics from the region will be invited to take part, Arab News said.
The planned annual event will start on May 20 and is organized by a government-sponsored literary club based in the eastern city of Dammam and the Saudi Society of Arts and Culture, the English-language paper said.
Quoting poet Ahmad al-Mulla, a board member of the Dammam Literary Club, the paper said the five-day contest will feature Saudi and other Gulf and Arab movies of various genres.
A prize called “The Palm” will be awarded to the best short narrative and documentary. Special recognition will be given to the best screenplay in hopes that this will help raise funds to send the script to production.
Arab News noted that Saudi filmmakers are getting more support abroad than inside the country. Saudi films -- such as last year’s “Keif Al Hal” or “Cinema 500 km” – were featured at Gulf festivals but totally ignored at home.
In 2006, the first public screening of films took place in Jeddah since movie theaters were banned in the Kingdom in the early ’80s following a surge of conservatism, the paper said.
The privately sponsored event was titled “The Jeddah Visual Shows Festival,” consciously avoiding the word “film” or “movie” in the title, Arab News said, adding that this time, no such reservation is taking place. |
