Everything is back at the Vox Cinemas in Al Balad today – but that doesn’t mean it’s over! There are still more exciting films screening for the first time today, as well as loads of repeats so you can catch up on films you have missed. The jury is still working hard, watching the last of the films in competition before they meet to make their decisions on who will win the inaugural Red Sea Film Festival prizes…
Talent days starts today, and it provides the opportunity to develop skills and insight to take projects to the next level, touching on everything from production to financing. Led by industry experts invited to share their experience and give updated in film production, financing, and distribution. In various sessions across two days, they will share their industry expertise and inspiration to help emerging filmmakers expand their knowledge and skills for a competitive edge in the international market.
Talent Days
Acting + Casting
(hosted by MBC Academy)
15:30
VOX Cinemas Souk
By: Osama Alqess
Festival Talks
Masterclass: YOUSRA
13.00 -14,00
Vox cinemas Al Balad 1
Egyptian actress, singer and glamour icon Yousra has starred in 81 films – including several with the maestro Youssef Chahine - and 20 television series. She will discuss the role of an actress within a production: the influence she has on the director, how she approaches characters and the impact the roles she has played have had on her.
Masterclass: Laurie Anderson
17.00 -14,00
Hayy Jameel Courtyard
Musician, writer, director and artist Laurie Anderson has been a pioneer in fusing experimental technology with creative work at the highest level. Recently, she has been exploring VR. She will discuss the possibilities she has discovered in the new medium and what she sees as its future.
Festival Films
Gala screenings
Champions
16.00 – 17.48
Red Sea Gala Theatre
Al Balad
From the Next Generations programme comes this uplifting true story of an arrogant football coach who undergoes some retraining himself when he is obliged to take on a team of intellectually disabled players.
The Colour Room
19.00 -21.03
Red Sea Gala Theatre
Al Balad
Bridgerton star Phoebe Dynevor stars as Clarice Cliff, an innovative pottery designer of the 1920s who, as a woman in charge of her own studio, helped revolutionise the British industry.
New Saudi Cinema Highlight
Fay’s Palette
11.15 -12.46
Vox Cinemas
Al Balad 1
Fay’s only contact with the world outside her apartment is through her brother. In her frustration, she expresses obsessions and private thoughts we come to understand through her paintings. Eagerly awaited – and sold out at this screening! - new work from Saudi director Anas Ba-Tahaf.
Festival Favourite
A Tale of Love and Desire
23.00-00.47
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 2
Farah, a young Parisian of Algerian origin, introduces Tunisian immigrant Ahmed to a sensuous Arab literature he never imagined existed. Leyla Bouzid delves into themes of love, fear and exile.
All sections: repeat screenings
Communion
11.30-13.05
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 3
Director Nejib Belkadhi also plays Kais, a psychotic who urgently needs medication, in this two-hander about a couple struggling with lock-down.
The Sea Ahead
13.45- 15.46
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 4
Jana returns to Beirut to discover the Paris of the Levant is a dreary ghost town; even the lovely sea view from her parents’ old apartment has been reduced to a sliver.
Huda’s Salon
14.00-15.33
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 3
For two Palestinian women, a simple visit to the local hairdresser’s leads to blackmail, kidnapping and interrogation. With director Hany Abu-Assad.
Paka/River of Blood
14.15 – 16.01
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 2
Two enemy clans fight a centuries-old blood feud across an apparently peaceful river in NIthin Lukose’s drama. But when two members of the young generation fall in love, there may be hope of peace.
Radiograph of a Family
14.45 – 16.11
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 1
Iranian film-maker Firouzeh Khosrovani uses family photos, home-movies and letters to trace her parents’ love story, which survived their very different worldviews.
Rupture
16.45 – 18.35
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 3
US actor Billy Zane stars in Saudi director Hamzah K. Jamjoom’s psychodrama about a woman who must break through her own delusional fog to be able to defeat a real killer. A world premiere.
Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon
17.00-18.57
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 2
Mona Lisa is an escaped mental patient with telekinetic powers; Kate Hudson plays the trashy pole dancer who takes her in. Iranian stylist Ana Lily Amirpour takes us on a wacky ride.
You Resemble Me
17.30-19.06
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 1
Journalist and film-maker Dina Amer uses three actresses to interpret the fractured identity of Hasna Ait Boulachen, dubbed Europe’s first female bomber in 2015.
Saloum
20.00- 21.27
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 2
Three mercenaries clash with a legendary Guinea-Bissau figure in Jean-Luc Hebulot’s thrilling mash-up of the supernatural and revolutionary politics.
Feathers
20.15 – 22.12
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 1
A magician at a child’s birthday party mistakenly turns Dad into a chicken in Omar Al Zoheiry’s Cannes prize-winning fantasy.
Beirut Hold’em
22.45 – 00.26
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 3
Michel Kammoun presents his story of a Lebanese ex-con who sees his future opening an amusement arcade – if only he can get the money together.
Short and Sweet: Short film programmes
More opportunities to catch programmes of short films from Asia, Africa and the Arab World – plus a programme of short films from right here in KSA.
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Competition shorts 3
11.15-13.04,
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 4
Competition shorts 2
17.00-18.42
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 4
New Saudi/New Cinema Shorts 1
20.00 – 21.19
Vox Cinemas, Al Balad 3
Red Sea: Immersive
Our journey into current VR film-making continues at Hayy Jameel.
One-hour slots available at 11, 1215, 1330, 1515, 1630, 1745, 1930, 2045 and 2200.