Festival-goers: ‘Films open up doors to other people, cultures and countries’

DHAHRAN: As the fourth edition of the Saudi Film Festival in Dhahran continues to delight audiences, Arab News got to the heart of the issue and asked festival-goers what movies mean to them.
For some, films are a window to another world while for others, movies can bridge the gap between various cultures and promote a sense of understanding.
“Films and the cinema are a reflection of our lives. At the same time, they open up doors to other cultures and countries. They might be similar to our culture or they might be different but in either case, we get to witness how the world works,” Mohammed Al Shahri, a young student trainee at the University of Dammam’s Nursing College and festival volunteer, told Arab News.
Al Shahri further talks about how the emerging filmmaking industry in Saudi Arabia is promising, saying: “We have stories that are particular to Saudi Arabia. We can open up that window and let people see our culture, both negative and positive. These stories reflect on our image.”
Echoing Al Shahri’s comments, Yousef Al Rumaihi, a student trainee at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, states that encouraging filmmaking is very important.
As a volunteer who dedicates his time to crowd management at the event, Al Rumaihi says he has had the opportunity to watch only one movie so far — “Sami,” which tells the story of a gangster whose daughter has been kidnapped.
Young filmmaker Mansour Asad Khan talks about using cinema to understand people. In his three-minute movie, “Sound,” Khan depicts the life and trials of deaf people and how society tends to treat them.
Despite lasting only three minutes, it was a challenge to bring together the seven crew members needed to shoot the movie. It took Khan two months to complete the filmmaking process for what is his first-ever entry in a nation-wide competition.
Some movies that were screened on the fourth day of this year’s Saudi Film Festival include: “Predicament in Sight” (drama, comedy), “Invitation” (drama, comedy), “Daesh Girl” (drama, thriller) and “Red Rose” (animation, music)