Film programs focus on Saudi talents

The General Authority for Culture on Tuesday launched an intensive training course for Saudi filmmaking talents under the supervision of teachers from leading universities and institutions, including the French La Femis film school, the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, and Film Independent.

About 130 young Saudi women and men from different regions of the Kingdom are benefiting from educational programs in three Saudi cities as well as in the US and France, where seven programs are held simultaneously.
The General Authority for Culture, represented by the Saudi Film Council, is organizing the programs to enable Saudi talent to promote the film industry in the Kingdom and achieve the goals of Vision 2030.
The seven programs are focused on filmmaking disciplines such as directing, screenwriting and sound production.
Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam hosted three screenwriting programs organized by the authority in collaboration with Film Independent.
These programs feature key concepts in screenwriting such as script development, event building up, and character building.
Dammam will host the direction program presented by Professor James Savoca from USC University.
In France, La Femis offers a six-week course to help Saudi filmmakers develop their storytelling skills at every stage of the film process.
In the US, two national talent groups are taking part in two workshops. The first is a directing program at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, while the second at Studio School in Los Angeles is part of an “Under the Production Line” program.
This program hones the skills of national talent in technical disciplines that the local production environment lacks.
The programs, which were held simultaneously on Thursday, are part of the intense training programs announced by the General Authority for Culture.