Fest Track On Sirk TV Overview Coverage: RED SEA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2021 - THE SETTING [Jeddah -Saudi Arabia]
The beauty of the first year of a film festival is seeing its intention, its room for growth, and its possibilities. The 1st year of the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia shows the dexterity of local culture evolving with the times but also understanding its place in the world while also maintaining cultural identity. The expansion of the theatrical distribution in a country where it is only has existed in many ways for 5 years shows how far and how fast Saudi Arabia is moving but also where it wants to go. The event and the discussions at the fest have helped move this forward as well as the settings and films themselves.
The Setting The film festival was held in Jeddah, a coastal city which in most ways, serves a port for Mecca. Located about half way down the North/South length of the country on the Red Sea across the sea from the Sudan, the city seems quite fast and smoothly operated with infrastructure nicely in place and an extensive freeway (per se) road system within city limits. The center of the film festival is held in Historic Old Jeddah where a full red gala theater where the premieres were held seemingly was built from scratch for the festival. The set up with the theater (at least as far as its sound and picture) is great. Many festivals could learn from the optimization of space that the RSIFF has optimized. The festival office, the press office and the box office are spread out in different breakout buildings throughout the souk.
There is also a very nice café structure built into the roundabout for festivalgoers with a badge. This area housed a couple of take-away food places from local vendors. Wifi was present (and, as with any festival, bandwidth is usually an issue), so it should likely improve with time. With the ever present loom of the pandemic still important and relevant, both entry and exit into the country requires negative PCR test currently. An included PCR lab connected test station right near the shuttle bus stop is well placed. Like the festival office, there is also a series of secondary theaters called Al Balad 1-5. Al Balad is a name also for Historic Old Jeddah.
Many people, this journalist included, stayed at The Galleria By Elaf, a picturesque hotel in the bustling Al Rasadah area of the city, perhaps 20 minutes away from the main festival area. Other hotel spots included ones closer to the port with the Crowne Plaza and the Intercontinental. A very interesting element was the balance of both Western franchises per se along the travel routes in the city like Applebees, Subway and Chuck E. Cheese as well as high end quality brands like Gucci, Bvgari and Tommy Hilfiger. In the immediate area, there are also some new AMC Theater complexes (as well as one less than 1000 feet from The Galleria being built and one less than 2 miles away). This shows the exhibition possibility the country is looking to embrace and the pace at which it is moving.
Opening Night The opening night took place at the Red Gala Theater with a showing of “Cyrano” directed by Joe Wright and starring Peter Dinklage. However before the film began, the opening ceremony spoke to the different elements of voices and hope for the future in the festival as well as the country. The head of the competition jury was Guiseppe Tornatore who directed such films as the Oscar winning “Cinema Paradiso” and "The Legend Of 1900". Having seen and done the interviews for “Cyrano” in NY the week before, one thing that stood out to this journalist was the separation of sound and the ability to hear really interesting small details with the acoustics in the mix.
The opening night party took place across the street at an area called South Park which is small open area on an interior body of water. It is not known to this writer if it leads out to the port. With a food buffet bar with sushi as a main feature on the left side of a stage complex, there was nice places to sit and mill about. The essence of masks and social distancing was in place since this was a slightly bigger shindig than some of the other event parties (plus it being the first night). Some people were cautious while others embraced. The performer for the opening night was Wyclef Jean who played for about 30 minutes before midnight capping off with a drone light show which was dazzling to say the least. Many celebrities attended the red carpet premiere including new Captain America Anthony Mackie who just filmed the large budget movie "Desert Warrior" north in the country as well as supposedly in the city of Neom.
Other attendees at Opening Night included Stephen Dorff, Hilary Swank, Vincent Cassel and Clive Owen as well as internationally known models Irina Shayk and Candice Swanepoel in addition many Middle East luminaries and models as well. Add to the fact that it was announced that Gerald Butler will be shooting a mid-to-high budget sized action film with his director/collaborator on the movie "Greenland" called "Kandahar" both near the city of Hegra in the Al-Hula region as well as some filming in Jeddah, both the business and the glamour of this film festival (with the film market -- The Red Sea Souk --- going on concurrently) shows that the possibilities for the future of filmmaking, the film festival and film exhibition in the country seem bright.
By Tim Wassberg
