Since The Red Sea Fund expanded into four cycles to better support filmmakers in February of this year, a new funding strategy to better serve filmmakers from Saudi Arabia, the wider Arab region and Africa in bringing more diverse and authentic films to global audiences, a look back at the projects first awarded during the inaugural Red Sea Film Festival is worth evaluating.
The newly designed Red Sea Fund will expand from one funding cycle to four cycles throughout the year with two cycles dedicated to Post-Production, and separate cycles for Development and Production.
The first cycle for Post Production opened in February for features, documentary, and animation projects. The cycle for Development support just opened in April, to be followed by Production support in June and concluding with the second Post-Production support cycle in August.
The four funding strands will accelerate the growth of film production and support the early careers of ambitious filmmakers in the region and Africa by providing access to crucial funding throughout the year at various stages in the filmmaking process to propel projects further to completion.
When the Red Sea Fund launched in 2021, it received over 650 submissions from 81 countries in 36 languages of which over 30% were from female filmmakers. 97 of these projects have now received support in the forms of grants and funds. An impressive 26 of these films are from an exciting new wave of Saudi filmmakers of which 15 have female filmmakers attached, 11 projects from African filmmakers and the remaining 60 from the wider Arab region.
Shivani Pandya Malhotra, Managing Director of the Red Sea International Festival, said: “The Red Sea Foundation is committed to investing in, developing and promoting filmmakers from the Arab world and Africa as they continue to thrive and develop their skills to bring compelling and authentic stories across a range of genres, cultures and perspectives to the screen. Through the Red Sea Fund, we have supported a wealth of extraordinary projects, by boosting the programme with additional funding cycles it will provide talented filmmakers with the tools they need to develop unique and compelling films that represent and reflect the Arab world and Africa.”
Meriting a look back at the inauguaral Red Sea Souk Works-in-Progress and Project Market at the Red Sea Film Festival held last December 2021, there were awards granted of more than US$700,000.
The Red Sea Fund encourages bold and original ideas that embrace a rich and diverse range of subjects that inform, educate and entertain global audiences.
As the film industry in Saudi Arabia continues to thrive, the Red Sea Fund has proven to be a crucial vehicle to ensure filmmakers are in a position to make a vital contribution to champion the cultural value of storytelling in the Kingdom and thus creating a window for audiences to access authentic, untold narratives from the past, present and future. To encourage Saudi filmmakers who have taken part in previous funding cycles, they are eligible to submit their short films for further funding consideration.
Last year, out of the 97 awarded projects, 37 films were from development stage which further underlines the importance of this stage of the filmmaking process.
14 Red Sea Funded films from Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, Iraq, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco were presented to packed-out film screenings at the Red Sea International Festival in December. With a number of the films finding their way onto the international festival circuit this further indicates that the Red Sea Fund is an important force behind extraordinary features, documentaries, and animations coming out of Saudi, the Arab region, and Africa.
Mohammed Al-Turki, Red Sea IFF’s Chairman of the committee said: “The development stage of the Red Sea Fund cycle is crucial for filmmakers with strong and exceptional stories to tell. Global streamers and studios are ramping up the volume of local content available on their platforms, the surge of Arab and African films continue to increase at international Film Festivals and there is investment from international and regional production companies to shoot in the region. This is an exciting time for filmmakers; however, we are fully aware of how challenging the process can be and we look forward to supporting a new diverse slate of projects, broaden recognition for filmmakers and support their journey from script to screen through the Red Sea Fund.”
For more information on how to apply for funding:
For further press information:
The Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) 2021 winners of the Red Sea Souk Awards culminated four days of industry talks, workshops, an active project market and networking sessions. All films in the Red Sea Souk were deliberated on by two separate juries for the Project Market and the Works-in-Progress to grant the Red Sea Souk Awards. More than US$700,000 was awarded to the projects selected in the Red Sea Souk Awards with funds provided by the Red Sea Fund as well as generous industry sponsors.
To learn more about Souk activities during the festival (Click Here)
Zain Zedan, Red Sea Souk Manager, said: “Today we presented the Souk awards to an exceptional selection of new and established voices in filmmaking, including numerous women powerhouses. We are so proud of the creativity and talent displayed today and we would like to congratulate them on their momentous achievements, we can’t wait to see what more they accomplish in elevating the Saudi film industry.”
The Red Sea Fund granted five cash prizes awarded by the Red Sea Souk Jury. The Red Sea Souk Award with a grant of US$ 30,000 was presented to Harka aka Contra aka Before the Spring by Lotfy Nathan, a “simple, tragic parable” as described by Nathan, about a Tunisian making a precarious living selling contraband gas who, in real life, precipitated the Arab Spring with his act of defiance demanding dignity. The film is Cannes Film Festival 2022 Un Certain Regard!
Nathan is an American filmmaker of Egyptian descent. His first feature film, the documentary 12 O’Clock Boys, for which he received the HBO Emerging Artist Award, was selected in over 50 international festivals, including SXSW, Sundance LA, Lincoln Center, Viennale, Hot Docs, London and Copenhagen. It is distributed in the United States by Oscilloscope and has been purchased by Showtime and Amazon as well as being optioned by Will Smith’s company, Overbrook Entrertainement to adapt into a drama. In 2015, Lotfy was a recipient of the Creative Capital and participated in a Cinereach Foundation director’s residency. He had previously been a recipient of the Garrett Scott Fund, the Peter Reed Foundation, the Grainger Marburg Fund, and the IFP Fellowship. This, his first feature film, was developed in the Sundance Film Institute’s Screenwriting Lab in 2016 and is now in post-production.
The film’s producer Julie Viez started her career in the film industry at Warner Bros EMEA (Europe Middle East Asia). She then focused on independent film production, working for companies such as Pan-Européenne, The Film, and CG Cinema. She works on an international scale and produces a wide range of budgets. In 2019 Julie shot La Salamandre , the debut feature of director Alex Carvalho which premiered at Venice’s Settimana in 2021. She is developing several ambitious features and series, among which the next features by Cannes-nominated directors Abu Bakr Shawky, Jonathan Littell, Morgan Simon, and Marie Monge.
The third partner are the producers of The Man Who Sold His Skin (Academy Award Nomination 2020 — see my previous blog on it.). The international sales agent is Constellation. They are all hoping the film will be ready for Cannes 2022.
The remaining four awards supported by the Red Sea Fund Award included a Red Sea Souk Award with a grant of 25,000 USD that was presented to the winner Akashinga by Naishe Hassan Nyamubaya for their film in development set in the rural savannah of Zimbabwe where the first all-female para-miliary, anti-poaching unit ever, led by one sister seeks to protect the wilds just outside a village where the other sister, following the traditiona path of mother and wife seeks to protect her family when they are sut out of their own forests, thus threatening their own livlihoods. There is a lot of interest in this film, depending of course upon the script. They arrived seeking 117,000 USD for development which would include the cost for participation in the Torino Filmwriting Lab.
Writer Director Naishe Hassan Nyamubaya, a Zimbabwean-Egyptian was a guide of safaris in his mother’s company until she died. His two shorts have played in top festivals and have received several awards. He just finished Four Walls and a Roof and met his producer Jeremie Palanque online during COVID. Jeremy Palanque is a French producer, constantly immersed in a muticultural environment which has influenced the line-up of his short and feature film projects (Reunion Island, Senegal, Taiwan, Vietnam, Zimbabwe). He completed his Master’s deree in Film Pfoduction in 2019 under the direction of Serge Lalou (Les Films d’Ici). Thanks to the renowned Zimbabwean novelist Tsitsi Dangarembga, whom he met at an online conference in Africa, he met Naisah in 2019. They are hoping to interest the Zimbabwean actress in Black Panther and they hope this film will influence Zimbabwe to establish a government cultural instrument to help support artists. Meeting with Jeremie who put Naisha online for our meeting convinced me, top French international sales agents and the jury that this team will accomplish something great with this film. Keep an eye on them!
A Red Sea Souk Award with a grant of US$100,000 was presented to the winner AÏcha by Mehdi M. Barsaoui (A Son) for his film in production.
Furthermore, the two Red Sea Lodge Awards each with a grant of US$ 100,000 were awarded to the winners The Zarqa Girl by Zaid Abuhamdan and The Photographer of Madina by Dalyah Bakheet.
There was an additional Red Sea Souk Award, the Special Mention Award with a grant of US$15,000 awarded to Birthday by Lara Zeidan.
From the sponsors, Cell Studios, a fully integrated postproduction facility, came three awards to a film in post-production. The first award consisting of a full DCP package worth US$ 10,000 was awarded to The Cemetery of Cinema by Thierno Souleymane Diallo. The second award consisting of a full promotion package worth US$ 10,000 was awarded to Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous by Wissam Charaf. Finally, the third award consisting of a full colour grading package worth US$ 15,000 was presented to Fragments from Heaven by Adnane Baraka.
Leyth Production, Tunisian-based film production company, presented the Leyth Production Award consisting of Sound Mixing by S.G., sound designer, in Auditorium 7.1 equivalent to 15,000 USD to the winner Abdelinho by Hicham Ayouch to their film in post-production. Meanwhile, Arab Cinema Center (ACC), an international promotional platform for Arab cinema, presented the Arab Cinema Centre Award with participation in the 2022 Rotterdam Lab to the Saudi winner Zeba by Arar Qarim, and Seeking Haven for Mr. Rambo by Khaled Mansour.
MAD solutions, the first Pan-Arab creative studio dedicated to the creation, promotion and distribution of Arabic content to and from the Arab world, presented the Mad Solutions Distribution Award in the amount of 50,000 USD to the winner The Seasons of Jannet by Mehdi Hmili. Whereas Cinewaves Films, a leading Saudi distribution company with the largest Saudi film library, presented the Cinewaves Film Distribution Award in the amount of 50,000 USD to the winner Zeba by Abrar Qari.
The Arab Radio and Television Network (ART), one of the major players in the Arab Film Industry, presented two awards. The first award is the winner of the Arab Radio and Television Network (ART) Distribution Award in the amount of 50,000 USD, Montreal by Ameen Nayfeh. The second winner of the Arab Radio and Television Network (ART) Distribution Award in the amount of 50,000 USD was Within Sand by Mo Alatawi. Lastly, the final Souk Award was the winner of the Shahid Distribution Award in the amount of 100,000 USD, Hala’s Aziz by Jawaher Alamri.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment