International Insider: Red Sea Awaits; Brakes On ‘Top Gear’; Constantin Shake-Up
deadline.comAfternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here bringing you the latest from around the globe as our friends in America tuck into their turkey.
Sign up for the newsletter here. Shifting sands: Red Sea International Film Festival, the big Saudi Arabian film get-together, opens its third edition next Thursday in the port city of Jeddah.
The event was launched in the wake of Saudi Arabia lifting of its 35-year cinema ban at the end of 2017, as part of its 2030 Vision plan aimed at moving the economy away from a reliance on oil, and has become an integral part of the country’s ambition to become the leading film and TV hub in the MENA region.
But announcements on films and guests have been down to the wire this year, as the event juggles the shifting sands of the global geo-political tensions set in motion by the Israel-Hamas conflict and the welcome end of the strikes in Hollywood. The projects: In a sign of how far the country’s film industry has come over the last six years, the 2023 edition will open with the Jeddah-set fantasy romance HWJN, an ambitious joint production between major Gulf players Image Nation Abu Dhabi, VOX Studios and MBC Studios.
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