Saudi-supported Egyptian film wins big at Venice Film Festival’s Final Cut
Updated 05 September 2024
Arab News
DUBAI: The Red Sea Film Foundation-supported film “Aisha Can’t Fly Away,” the feature debut of Egyptian filmmaker Morad Mostafa, became the first Egyptian film to win the La Biennale di Venezia Prize at Final Cut in Venice on Wednesday.
The award, given for a film in post-production, is worth €5,000 ($5,546).
The film, which got a total of five awards during the festival, tells the story of a Somali woman caring for her elderly parents in Cairo while witnessing the tensions between the different ethnic groups who make up the city’s society.
This year’s jury included Wayne Borg from NEOM, Monica Ciarli from Minerva Pictures, and Dennis Ruh, the former director of the European Film Market.
In their statement, the jury labeled Mostafa’s story “powerful and authentic,” adding: “Despite being a first feature film, it showcased confident direction and a distinct cinematic voice. The film’s gritty realism, attention to detail, and impactful storytelling left a strong impression on us.”
Three other films supported by Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Foundation also won awards at Final Cut: Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Siam’s “My Father’s Scent,” Lebanese director Nadim Tabet’s “In This Darkness I See You” and Mosotho screenwriter and film director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s “Ancestral Visions of the Future.”
Final Cut in Venice offers filmmakers a platform to showcase their works-in-progress to global industry experts, helping with post-production support and market entry.
Mohammed Al-Turki attends ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’ premiere at Cannes
Updated 15 May 2025
Arab News
DUBAI: Saudi film producer Mohammed Al-Turki was spotted at the red carpet premiere of “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” at the 78th annual Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday.
Al-Turki, who previously served as CEO of the Red Sea International Film Festival, wore a midnight blue Berluti ensemble for the occasion. His look featured a satin and Super 200s micro design wool three-piece tuxedo, styled with a matching midnight blue bow tie and cotton shirt. He completed the outfit with black patent leather loafers.
Al-Turki posed for photos alongside Egyptian actress Yousra before the film’s screening. (Getty Images)
He posed for photos alongside Egyptian actress Yousra before the film’s screening.
US actor Greg Tarzan Davis, US actress Angela Bassett, US actor and producer Tom Cruise, French actress Pom Klementieff, US film director, screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie leave after the screening of the film 'Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning' at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. (Getty Images)
“Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” stars Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell and Ving Rhames, continuing the story from 2023’s “Dead Reckoning – Part One.” The sequel follows Ethan Hunt and his team as they face off against the Entity, a rogue AI threatening global security. With the previous installment underperforming at the box office, this chapter is seen as a crucial release for the franchise.
Saudi digital artist Maryam Tariq: ‘Art became a way to communicate with the world’
Updated 15 May 2025
Rebecca Anne Proctor
DUBAI: Against a black background, parts of a face emerge: a chin, followed by lips, ears and eyes — at times alone and at others in unison — colored in yellow, light pink and purple, accompanied by what appear to be lines of TV static in the same colors.
This digital work, “Memory Recall,” is the latest creation of Jeddah-based Saudi artist Maryam Tariq, which she presented in the digital section of Art Dubai in April, at the booth of Jeddah’s Hafez Gallery. Over the past five years, Tariq, who was born and raised in Yanbu, has made a name for herself with her mixed-media artworks, often utilizing light and 3D projection mapping.
This digital work, “Memory Recall,” is the latest creation of Jeddah-based Saudi artist Maryam Tariq. (Supplied)
“Memory Recall” creates an alluring, dream-like environment. Tariq says it references human perception just after birth. The work was influenced by philosophical theories about early human development, particularly those of German psychoanalyst Erich Neumann.
“I wanted to bring back the faded memory of when we were first born and our consciousness was still forming,” she tells Arab News. “It’s an abstract memory because our brain is still trying to make sense of the world; it doesn’t know the difference between an eye or an apple.
“I feel the artwork represents a good place — a place where our ego hasn’t yet been formed,” she continues. “It’s a good place to try and be in from time to time.”
The work offers a sense of what she calls “mystical participation,” referring to the period where a newborn has yet to identify themselves as an individual and is trying to make sense of the world around them. By prompting the viewer to delve back into such a state through the work’s dynamic interplay of light and shadows heightened with color, Tariq strives to remove the sense of “I” that dominates our collective experience.
Tariq’s interest in creating art came early in life, she says, inspired by her father.
“My father is an engineer and also an artist, but it’s more of a hobby for him,” she tells Arab News. As a child she would watch him sketch and paint and wanted to do the same.
Her work largely focuses on exploring sacred geometry and the spiritual principles that shape nature, resulting in surreal works bridging the realm of digital and traditional art. (Supplied)
“It was our way to spend time together. As a child I wasn’t especially talkative or social and art became a way for me to communicate with the world, my friends and family,” she explains.
Tariq studied animation at Effat University in Jeddah, and earned her diploma in visual and digital production, which she describes as being similar to filmmaking, as it has a strong focus on storytelling.
Since then, her work has largely focused on exploring sacred geometry and the spiritual principles that shape nature, resulting in surreal works bridging the realm of digital and traditional art.
In 2020 she launched The Golden Ratio, her own media art agency, which has since produced immersive visual experiences for music festivals and concerts alongside DJs and producers across the Gulf region and Europe.
Her first solo exhibition, “Remembering the Future,” took place at Hafez Gallery in Jeddah in 2021, and was followed by her inclusion in the 2022 exhibition “Re-appearing Imaginaries” at the Misk Art Institute in Riyadh as well as in Noor Riyadh that same year. In 2023, she showed her work at the Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival and in 2024 she was part of the Noise Media Art fair in Vienna, Austria.
Tariq recently completed a stint at the Artist Inn Residency in Ubud, Bali, which prompted her to embrace nature and traditional art forms while also distancing herself a little from the tech that dominates daily life.
“I feel sometimes I get exhausted from using too much technology and feel like just going back to nature and using my hands. So that’s what I did,” she says. “I learned how to sculpt. And after I took it into the digital world. It was a nice experience to mix both.
“I feel drawn to the digital realm because it’s fun and you can do so much with it; you can go wild with your imagination,” she continues. “But I also feel more involved with traditional (art). While technology is always being updated — always growing with new things to do and explore — I also love the traditional. I feel, sometimes, the need to strike a balance between both.”
Through her art, Tariq hopes to offer her viewers an experience of escape, contemplation and possibly a shift in perception.
“I want to take them to this place where they are calm and are just a baby again, experiencing the world for the first time to make sense of things,” she says of “Memory Recall.” “It’s an experience where color is new, and everything is new. I want to offer this perspective of looking at the world with pure eyes.”
Saudi-backed ‘Promised Sky’ premieres in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section
Updated 15 May 2025
Arab News
DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Fund-backed feature “Promised Sky” premiered at the 78th Cannes Film Festival as part of the Un Certain Regard section on the event’s second day.
Directed by Erige Sehiri, the film is among the latest international projects supported by the Red Sea Film Foundation, which champions emerging filmmakers.
The premiere was attended by Sehiri and lead cast members Deborah Naney, Aissa Maiga and Laetitia Ky, who gathered for the film’s official screening and red carpet appearance.
“Promised Sky” follows the fate of three women, a pastor, a student and an exiled mother, whose delicate cohabitation shifts when they take in little four-year-old Kenza, rescued from a shipwreck.
Princess Reema chooses Honayda design for Trump’s departure from Riyadh
Updated 15 May 2025
Arab News
DUBAI: As US President Donald Trump concluded his visit to Saudi Arabia and departed for Qatar, Princess Reema bint Bandar, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, again wore a creation by Saudi designer Honayda Serafi.
For the occasion, Princess Reema chose a light pink ensemble consisting of a long, flowing dress paired with a structured overcoat. The overcoat featured a soft floral pattern, with delicate embroidery scattered across its surface. The look was completed with a matching light pink headscarf.
The outfit followed her look from the day before, when she wore a bespoke royal blue abaya by Serafi during Trump’s official welcome in Riyadh.
The floor-length abaya featured detailed gold embroidery. The symmetrical patterns extended across the bodice and sleeves, while smaller gold motifs were scattered throughout the lower part of the garment. The look was completed with a matching blue headscarf.
Honayda Serafi, founder of Honayda, posted a statement about Princess Reema’s appearance on Instagram, saying: “I am so pleased and deeply proud to see HRH Princess Reema bint Bandar, our remarkable Saudi Ambassador to the United States, standing as a symbol of strength, progress and leadership, as one of the first women to break barriers and champion women’s empowerment.
“It is a special moment to see her shine as she welcomes President Trump on his historic visit to Riyadh, wearing a bespoke piece by Honayda for this significant occasion. I look forward to sharing more about the inspiration behind this design,” she added.
Serafi is known for dressing prominent figures in the Middle East and the rest of the world. Celebrities who have worn her designs include Priyanka Chopra, Lupita Nyong’o and Princess Rajwa Al-Hussein of Jordan.
She is a favorite of Saudi-born Princess Rajwa and dressed the royal for her henna night festivities in 2023 and for Jordanian King Abdullah II’s silver jubilee celebrations in Amman in 2024.
After leaving Riyadh, Trump is visiting Doha, Qatar, for meetings with Qatari leadership. After this stop, he is scheduled to travel to the UAE, where discussions will continue on economic cooperation, defense partnerships and regional security.
Kaouther Ben Hania and Oscar-winning producers on board to direct film on killing of Palestinian girl
Film will dramatize death of Hind Rajab, five-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza earlier this year, whose passing captured global headlines
Updated 14 May 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania will direct a new feature dramatizing the death of Hind Rajab, the five-year-old Palestinian girl killed in Gaza last year, a Variety report said on Wednesday.
The project, which is currently untitled, is set to be shot in Tunisia and produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha (“Four Daughters”), alongside Oscar-winning producers Odessa Rae (“Navalny”) and James Wilson (“The Zone of Interest”), with backing from Film4.
Hind Rajab’s death became a global symbol of the humanitarian toll of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks.
She was one of thousands of children killed in the conflict, but her story sparked particular international outrage. In one notable protest, student demonstrators at Columbia University renamed occupied buildings in her honor.
Rajab was fleeing Gaza City with members of her family on Jan. 29, 2024, when their car came under Israeli fire, killing her uncle, aunt and three cousins.
Hind was left trapped in the vehicle for hours, speaking with the Palestinian Red Crescent Society by phone as paramedics attempted to reach her.
On Feb. 10, after Israeli forces withdrew from the area, rescuers found the bodies of Hind, the paramedics and the family still inside the vehicle.
Israel initially denied responsibility, but investigations by The Washington Post, Sky News and the research agency, Forensic Architecture, later concluded that Israeli tanks were in the vicinity and had likely fired at the car.
The same investigations indicated an Israeli tank had also targeted the ambulance sent to rescue her.
Ben Hania, one of the Arab world’s most acclaimed filmmakers, has received multiple Academy Award nominations.
Her 2017 feature, “Beauty and the Dogs,” was Tunisia’s Oscar submission, while “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020) was nominated for best international feature.
Her latest film, “Four Daughters,” was nominated for best documentary feature at the 2024 Oscars.
