Red Sea Programmer Kaleem Aftab Seeks to Make the Festival a ‘Home’ for World Cinema

variety.com:

Martin Dale Contributor “Home” is the theme of the 4th edition of the Red Sea Film Festival as it returns to its original location, but in a sleek custom-built venue, in the recently renovated Al-Balad district in Jeddah, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Kaleem Aftab, the fest’s head of international programming, says that home is a fitting theme for this year’s edition since the festival increasingly serves as a key platform for Africa, Arab and Asian cinema, and its impact is now all-year-round through the work of the Red Sea Film Foundation. “We’re focusing on what we can achieve as a foundation rather than just as a festival,” he explains, adding that 11 of the 122 films screening at this year’s edition have been developed within the Red Sea eco-system, including the opening film, “The Tale of Daye’s Family,” which is a Saudi Egyptian co-production. “We are the best place in the [Middle East and North Africa] region to find the most challenging and also the most accessible films, and those that ask the audience questions about what kind of film they want to see,” he says.

Aftab is delighted that the festival is high on the radar of international filmmakers, making it possible to host the festival premiere of Gabriele Salvatores’ “Naples-New York,” based on Federico Fellini’s screenplay, and also screen films such as R.

T. Thorne’s dystopian thriller “40 Acres,” which had its world premiere at Toronto, Sarah Friedland’s “Familiar Touch,” which won three awards at Venice, and Guan Hu’s “Black Dog,” which won Un Certain Regard at Cannes.