For the second year in a row, the Red Sea International Film Festival, launched in 2021 in the ultra-conservative kingdom and led by producer Mohammed al Turki, appears as a major player on the Croisette. His name is visible everywhere: posters, credits and galas.

Last year, Human Rights Watch accused Saudis -- regularly singled out for discrimination against women and numerous executions of prisoners -- of using festivals like Cannes "as a way to whitewash their reputations, as they have done with sporting events."

French actress Catherine Deneuve at the "Women's Stories" gala organized by the Red Sea International Film Festival, on May 18, 2023 in Cap d'Antibes, during the 76th Cannes © Film Festival AMMAR ABD RABBO / AFP

But this year, the Saudi presence causes little stir, the general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Frémaux, even welcoming to the American magazine Variety the fact that the kingdom wants to "produce films and allow artists to emerge" and specifying that "Saudi Arabia was evolving".

"Achievement"

For the 76th edition, through a dedicated fund, the Red Sea Festival financed (or co-financed) eight films, including the opening one, "Jeanne du Barry" by Maïwenn, "Les filles d'Olfa" by Kaouther Ben Hania (in the running for the Palme d'Or), "Augure" by Baloji, "Goodbye Julia", Mohamed Kordofani's first feature film, "Inchallah un fils", the first Jordanian film selected at Cannes and "Kadib Abyad" by Asmae el Moudir.

"The Saudis are proud of this achievement," Emad Iskandar, director of the fund, which has financed 168 films in two years, told AFP. "We only support Saudi, Arab and African films," he said.

Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (l) and producer Nadim Cheikhrouha arrive at the "Women's Stories" gala organized by the Red Sea International Film Festival, on May 18, 2023 in Cap d'Antibes, during the 76th Cannes © Film Festival AMMAR ABD RABBO / AFP

In January, however, the fund had created a surprise by announcing that it would finance for the first time a French film. "Maïwenn has Algerian origins," Eskandar said.

"As long as we have the resources, we want to serve the region, but also take advantage of it to learn more," he said.

He stresses that "the opening advocated in 2015 by MBS (Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince), and King Salman", and especially the lifting in 2017 of the ban that had hit cinemas for 35 years, "encouraged us".

The festival even organized a gala dedicated to "women in cinema", which brought together Catherine Deneuve, Katie Holmes and a slew of recognized actresses, while the condition of women in the kingdom remains criticized, despite reforms such as the lifting of the driving ban in 2018.

Spanish actress Rossy de Palma arrives at the "Women's Stories" gala organized by the Red Sea International Film Festival, on May 18, 2023 in Cap d'Antibes, during the 76th Cannes © Film Festival AMMAR ABD RABBO / AFP

Is the country trying to restore its image through cinema?

"These are empty words," Iskandar replied. These accusations "sadden us more than anything else. Come and get to know Saudi Arabia and then talk about us," he said. "The West has arrived at what it is after years of wars and debates. We are a state that is 90 years old, wait a little."

Several commercials in Cannes also call for producers and directors to film in Saudi Arabia.

And the Generation 2030 association, created in 2019 to bring together young Saudi and French talents, has launched the second edition of its Saudi cinema tour.

"This is a country that is looking to position itself more in the global film industry," Guillaume Esmiol, director general of the Marché du Film, told AFP. "Every year, he asks to enlarge his pavilion, to be more and more present. It's a signal that they have ambitions."

Saudi Arabia is not the only country in the region to invest heavily in cinema: its rival, Qatar, is also financing 13 films at Cannes, including three in competition ("Club Zero" by Jessica Hausner, "Banel and Adama" by Ramata-Toulaye Sy and "The Dry Herbs" by Nuri Bilge Ceylon).

French-Senegalese director Ramata-Toulaye Sy during the photocall for the film "Banel and Adama", on May 21, 2023 at the 76th Cannes © Film Festival Patricia DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP

"We finance a lot of French productions and not only Arab ones, we don't want to be islanders," Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, told AFP.

"Soft power" as in the sports sphere? "Everyone does +soft power+. We do it without losing our identity," she retorts.

© 2023 AFP