The sixth session of the "Saudi Film Festival" will start today, Tuesday, after its postponement, which was scheduled for last April, as one of the consequences of the outbreak of the Corona virus, which has turned the balance of all fields upside down, including the film industry.
The festival is supposed to last for 6 days on a 24-hour basis, a session that can be described as exceptional as it will be held online and broadcast its program live, while the audience is allowed to follow and vote on the air.
The Internet saves the day
The festival is organized by the Saudi Culture and Arts Association, and the program includes many film screenings, in addition to meetings with filmmakers, and holding seminars and specialized training workshops.
The first workshop will be titled “From the Idea to the Story .. Writing the Short Film” by Michel Kamoun, and the second workshop is “Film Music” by Coach Ghia Al-Rasheedat.
Registration began in the workshops of the Saudi Film Festival:
• Film Music Workshop
📽 Trainer Ghia
Rasheedat 2-5 September
For more productive knowledge of film music
🔻 Register now: https: //t.co/DKcJmHtCCf pic.twitter.com/pmFjDIQVNf
- Saudi Film Festival (@SA_FilmFestival) August 21, 2020
Registration has started in the workshops of the Saudi Film Festival:
• A workshop from idea to story, writing the short film
📽 Coach Michel Kamoun
2-5 September
📝 Practical training to write a short film idea and implement the final summary of the film
🔻 Register now: https: //t.co/S9N1ZjFwIH pic.twitter.com/wqtWW0414n
- Saudi Film Festival (@SA_FilmFestival) August 21, 2020
The festival also offers 4 main competitions, which are the feature films competition, in which 23 films will participate, the documentary competition with a total of 13 films, the student films competition with a total of 17 films, and finally the unexecuted scenario competition, which will include 177 scenarios.
The prizes for the film competitions include 3 prizes in each category, the first is the Golden Palm for the best first film, the second is the Golden Palm for the best second film, and awarded by independent jury, and the third is the audience award that will be decided by the votes of the followers.
As for the screenplay competition prizes, it consists of 4 categories, namely, the Golden Palm for the best first long screenplay, the Golden Palm for the best second long screenplay, the Golden Palm for the best first short screenplay, and finally the Golden Palm for the best second short scenario.
Arbitration committees
Last Thursday, the organizing committee of the Saudi Film Festival announced the names of the members of the jury for the festival’s various competitions, starting with the artist Ibrahim Al-Hassawi, who was assigned the chair of the feature film jury, provided that the membership of the same committee includes the Danish artist Rasmus Prendstrup and the Lebanese director Colette Novel.
Swiss artist Philippe Cordy will chair the documentary film competition committee, while its membership is awarded to both the Saudi artist, Ali Al-Samin, and the Iraqi artist, Irfan Rashid.
Saudi director Hana Al-Omair will chair the Student Film Competition Committee, along with Russian artist Francine Vert and Emirati writer Adel Khouzam.
Finally, with the unexecuted scenario competition, whose committee’s presidency came to the Saudi writer Mafrej Al-Majdal from Saudi Arabia, the Saudi writers Abdullah Al-Safar and the Egyptian Waheed Al-Tawila will participate.
It is noteworthy that the first edition of the "Saudi Film Festival" was launched in 2008 and was organized by the Culture and Arts Association in cooperation with the King Abdulaziz Cultural Center.