Fridays on our minds – and for most badge-holders, it’s a morning off! For those at the Souk, however, the day starts earlier. Everybody is back at full swing in the afternoon, with still more great films to see. Don’t worry: the shuttles are running all afternoon, between the venues in Al Balad and the Red Sea mall. There is also a shuttle from Al Balad to Hayy Jameel, where Red Sea Immersive will open and close later than on previous days.

Welcome to the Souk!

Project Market

10.00 – 16.00 (with break from 13.00 to 14.00) Souk Project Markets room

Souk badge-holders only

One-on-one meetings with industry professionals for teams attached to Red Sea Souk and Red Sea Lodge projects.

Souk Talks

All badge-holders welcome

Realities and Anticipation: Contemporary Palestinian Cinema 10.00-12.00 Souk Talks Room 

Rashid Abdel Hamid leads a discussion with Palestinian directors Hany Abu Assad, Annemarie Jacir, and Rashid Masharawi and the Palestinian-American director, writer and actor Cherien Dabis.

Arab Distribution Panorama 12.30-15.00 Souk Talks Room

Panellists yet to be confirmed

Editing the Creative Non-Fiction Film 15.00-16.45 Souk Talks Room

A Doc Edit masterclass by Andrea Chignoli, generally recognised as Chile’s best editor and a frequent collaborator with director Pablo Larrain.

Networking Session 17.00 – 18.00

Mingle at the close of the day’s business with those in the know; today’s focus is on film festivals, labs and markets.

To see who’s coming to meet you, click HERE.

Industry-only screenings

All are for Souk badge-holders only

Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous 10.00 -11.00  Vox Cinema, Souk Work in Progress

Directed by Wissam Charaf

Recovery  13.30 -14.30  Vox Cinema, Souk Market Screening

Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi’s film made during lockdown in Paris about his family’s hometown Jaffa, brought to life with old photographs and an evocative soundtrack.

Abdelinho 15.00 – 16.00 Vox Cinema, Souk Work in Progress

Directed by Hicham Ayouch

Sharaf 16.00 – 17.08 Vox Cinema, Souk Market screening

Even in prison, naïve Sharaf believes he can work enough angles to make his fortune. Director Samir Nasr worked with renowned novelist Sonallah Ibrahim to adapt his novel for the screen.

And welcome back to the Festival!

Something new for today: our Red Sea Short Film Competition. The selected films have been divided into three programmes, with the first being screened at the Vox Cinemas at Red Sea Mall this afternoon. And very close by is Hayy Jameel, where the Red Sea Immersive continues.

Check out the film page on the festival website for more information on all the films playing. Today’s programme really is like a candy store. Pick and mix!

Festival Talks

Red Sea: In Conversation with Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige   14.00-15.00

Vox cinemas, Al Balad 1

The Lebanese couple and collaborators behind Memory Box discuss how they build their films, video installations and photographs through archival research and personal encounters, often taking years over a single project.

Festival Films

Red Sea Gala Screenings

Ghodwa 15.00-16.51 Red Sea Gala Theatre by VOX Cinemas, Al Balad

Tunisian director Dhafer L’abidine’s heartfelt mingling of a people’s aspirations for social justice and a rekindled relationship between a 15-year-old boy and his ailing father.

Daughters of Abdul-Rahman 18.30 -20.37 Red Sea Gala Theatre by VOX Cinemas, Al Balad

Four middle-aged Jordanian sisters, one of whom has stayed at home to look after their increasingly cantankerous father, are reunited when the old man goes missing in Zaid Abuhhamdan’s warm-hearted tale.

The Good Boss 22.00-00.15 Red Sea Gala Theatre by VOX Cinemas, Al Balad

Spanish star Javier Bardem is clearly enjoying himself as the paternal boss of a family company who turns out to be more ruthless than anyone imagined in Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s razor-sharp satire.

Red Sea Competition

Europa 18.30 – 19.47  VOX cinemas, Red Sea Mall 5

Kamal flees Iraq, hoping to get to Europe, but first he must get through lawless forests and the Badlands between Turkey and Bulgaria. Director Haider Rashid turns up the suspense as Kamal tries to outrun his pursuers.

Neighbours (repeat)  14.30 –16.39 VOX cinemas, Red Sea Mall 5

The arrival of a fanatical teacher at the primary school in a peacefully mixed Kurdish village at the centre of Mano Khalil’s film creates a new mistrust that is dangerous, but also absurd.

Life Suits Me Well (repeat) 17.45-19.20 VOX cinemas, Al Balad 3

Karim Debbagh’s touching story of a village postmaster whose death brings his family closer than ever and shows the indomitable love at the heart of his marriage.

Soula (repeat)  21.30-22.52 VOX cinemas, Al Balad 4

Soula Bahri plays herself in this story of a young single mother rejected by her family and society, trying to survive a long night on the road in Algeria.

The Alleys (repeat) 21.30-23.15 VOX cinemas, Red Sea Mall 4

A break-out hit at Locarno Film Festival and in competition here, Bassel Ghandour’s thriller set among the petty gangsters and stand-over merchants of Amman is as full of twists and turns as the streets it depicts.

A Day of Saudi Cinema

Kayan 14.45 – 16.05 VOX Cinemas Al Balad 4

A young couple visiting friends in Egypt get lost one night and check into a hotel. But the hostelry in Hakeem Jomah’s nailbiter is no ordinary hotel: they are in for a terrifying night. .

Champions 15.45 – 17.23 VOX Cinemas Al Balad 1

Top football coach Khalid is furious when a disciplinary board orders him to work with a team for people with intellectual disabilities. Manuel Calvo adapts a true story from Spain.

Route 10 23.15 - 00.42 VOX Cinemas Al Balad 1

When their plane to Abu Dhabi is cancelled, brother and sister Nasser and Maryam decide to drive the desert road. Little do they know the dangers ahead. Omar Nam directs.

New Saudi Cinema Short films 2 18.15 – 19.28 VOX cinemas Red Sea Mall 6

Witches, malicious whisperings and the come-uppance of a professional scammer are just some of the subjects covered in this package of eight Saudi short films.

New Saudi Cinema Short films 1 21.00-22.19 VOX Cinemas Al Balad 3

Insomnia, a strange find on an archaeological dig, an aggressive demon and life in a future post-war dystopia: you might find anything in this package of eight Saudi short films.

Festival Favourites

Our programming teams have been scouring every corner of the globe for gems to show Saudi audiences for the first time. Thanks to all those festivals, sales agents and producers who have hosted our teams. Your generosity is much appreciated! 

Apples 14.45 – 16.20 VOX Cinemas, Al Balad 2

Struck down by a pandemic that causes total amnesia, an anonymous man has to construct new memories from an invented life. Greek director Christos Nikou’s surreal and beguiling dark fantasy.

The Sea Ahead 18.00 – 20.01 VOX Cinemas, Red Sea Mall 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.

Mariner of the Mountains 18.15 – 19.58 VOX Cinemas, Al Balad 4

After the death of his mother, Brazilian film-maker Karim Ainouz travels to Algeria’s High Atlas , where the father he never met once lived. A very personal essay on identity and belonging.

Vortex 18.30 – 20.50 VOX Cinemas, Al Balad 1

French provocateur Gaspar Noe abandons his usual Bacchanalian antics to make a thoughtful, melancholy film about ageing and death: an elderly couple increasingly separated by their frailties.

Radiograph of a Family 20.15- 21.41 VOX Cinemas, Al Balad 2

Iranian film-maker Firouzeh Khosrovani uses family photos, home-movies and letters to trace her parents’ love story, which survived their very different worldviews.

Broken Keys 21.15 – 23.10 VOX Cinemas, Red Sea Mall 5

A young Syrian musician tries to sell his precious piano to finance his escape to Europe, but the plan is almost foiled when Islamic State find the instrument and try to destroy it.

The Innocents 23.00 – 01.02 VOX Cinemas, Al Balad 2

Norwegian director Eskil Vogt questions the nature of good and evil in this story of children with special powers they are ill-equipped to understand, let alone control.

Arab Spectacular

Their Heads Are Green and their Hands are Blue 15.00-16.15 VOX Cinemas, Red Sea Mall 4

Two documentarists retrace the steps through the Moroccan hinterland of American writer Paul Bowles, recording ritualistic and traditional tribal music he first wrote about 50 years ago,

Take Me to the Cinema 17.45 – 19.05 VOX Cinemas, Al Balad 2

Documentary-maker Albaqer Jaafar follows former Iraqi soldier Nassif, whose obsessive search for his pre-war favourite movie - Papillon, with Steve McQueen – shields him from what Baghdad has become.  

Red Sea: Immersive

A journey into current VR film-making continues at Hayy Jameel.