For Saudi Arabia, a coming-out party at Cannes Film Festival

‘Perfect’ 1st film backed by Saudi Film Council

CANNES, France, May 12, (Agencies): Saudi Arabia came to the world’s largest film market to declare its newly launched film industry “open for business, but largely avoided questions about gender equality.”

Saudi Arabia established its first pavilion at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, signaling its debut on the international movie stage. The desert kingdom recently lifted a 35-year ban on cinemas, opening the country of 33 million — 70 percent of which is under 30 — to both theaters and film productions.

On Friday, the country’s new national film organization, the Saudi Film Council, announced a 35-percent rebate on films shot in Saudi Arabia and a 50-percent rebate for studios that use local talent, as a means to entice international productions to the Middle Eastern nation.

Speaking to reporters, Ahmad Al-Mezyed, chief executive of the General Culture Authority, said it was “a call to come shoot in Saudi”.

“Once supported, we (will) leapfrog a lot of the regions around us to become a dominant player in the industry”, said Al-Mezyed. “We’re welcoming the world to Saudi”.

Asked repeatedly by reporters about women in the new Saudi film business, Al-Mezyed said guidelines based on “what’s acceptable in the society” will be announced in the coming weeks on matters like women’s dress on film sets. But Al-Mezyed also noted that Saudi Arabia — where women will first be allowed to drive in June — is changing. He said the country’s initial moviemaking training program is half women.

“Probably 70 percent of the questions are about women”, sighed AlMezyed, responding to a question about the freedom of female filmmakers. “A lot of the ideas that people have are pre-2015, what Saudi used to be, because it’s embedded within the media”.

Freedom, he said, already exists. He noted the success of director Haifaa Al-Mansour, whose 2013 film “Wadja” was nominated for the Academy Award for best foreign language film. The first production backed by the Saudi Film Council will be Al-Mansour’s “The Perfect Candidate”, about a Saudi female doctor who runs for office.

Saudi Arabia is planning to establish a national grant program for Saudi filmmakers, scholarships for film students for studying abroad and to build domestic film academies of its own. It’s all a part of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s efforts to transform the ultraconservative Saudi society.

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IMAX and Saudi Arabia’s General Culture Authority have signed a non-binding agreement to jointly seek opportunities to identify and develop local IMAX-format films in the kingdom.

Under the non-exclusive pact, unveiled Saturday, the partners will seek opportunities to help Saudi studios and directors release films with cross-border appeal and potentially tap into the IMAX global distribution platform to export their films to non-Arabic markets. IMAX has successfully implemented this approach in markets such as China and India, where it remasters and distributes local-language blockbusters both in-country and to its wider global network.

The agreement is part of the Saudi culture authority’s efforts to develop a dynamic and sustainable film industry in Saudi Arabia.

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AFI Docs has unveiled the lineup for this year’s festival, which kicks off with the world premiere of “Personal Statement”.

The fest — held from June 13 to June 17 in Washington and Silver Spring, Md — will include five world premieres and feature 92 films representing 22 countries.

“Personal Statement”, directed by Juliane Dressner and Edwin Martinez, is about three high school seniors in Brooklyn who take it upon themselves to become college counselors in their schools in their determination to earn a higher education.

“United Skates”, about the fight to save roller skating rinks — a staple of African American culture — will close the festival. The project is directed by Dyana Winkler and Tina Brown.

The centerpiece screening will be Rory Kennedy’s “Above and Beyond: NASA’s Journey to Tomorrow”. It tells the story about the workforce of NASA in its exploration of the solar system and of Earth.