DUBAI: The Red Sea Film Foundation, which organizes the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia, announced Mohammed Asseri as its interim CEO as Mohammed Al-Turki transitions from his post to an advisor role.
“Al-Turki will continue to support the leadership team while he returns to focus on personal projects and his career as an independent film producer and businessman,” it said. “The selection of a successor is underway and in the interim, former board member of the Red Sea Film Foundation Mohammed Asseri will step in as acting CEO of the foundation.”
“We celebrated a watershed moment in Cannes with the screening of “Norah,” which was a milestone both for the foundation and for Saudi cinema as a whole,” said Jomana Al-Rashid, chair of the Red Sea Film Foundation. “As we leave the Cannes Film Festival on a high, we look back at the past three years and the building blocks that have been worked on relentlessly by the team at Red Sea Film Foundation and share our gratitude for Mohammed Al-Turki who played a key role in leading the team and the Foundation to where it is today.”
Al-Rashid added: “We look forward to watching his career as one of Saudi’s most prominent film executives continue.”
Al-Turki, outgoing CEO of Red Sea Film Foundation, added: “Working with the Foundation on these three editions of the festival and cementing Saudi Arabia’s place on the global stage of the film industry has been an honour and a privilege. We have achieved so much, and ahead of our fourth edition—we are in a position we could only have dreamed of a few years ago—which is why I feel now is the perfect time to transition. I am grateful for the ties we have built as a team and will continue to support my Red Sea Film Foundation family led by the Chairwoman of the Foundation Jomana Alrashid and its Managing Director Shivani Pandya Malhotra.”
Since its inception, the Red Sea Film Foundation has supported more than 250 projects from Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.