The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea IFF) has appointed the full jury for the 2023 edition of the festival, which will be headed by internationally renowned writer, director and producer Baz Luhrmann (Elvis, Moulin Rouge!). Lurhmann is joined on the Red Sea: Features jury by Swedish-American actor Joel Kinnaman (Silent Night, For All Mankind, Suicide Squad), BAFTA Award nominated actor Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire, Knight of Cups), Egyptian actor Amina Khalil (Grand Hotel, Eugenie Nights) and Spanish actor Paz Vega (Sex and Lucía, The OA). The Red Sea: Shorts competition will be judged by jurors Hana Alomair, a Saudi writer, filmmaker and film critic behind Netflix series Whispers, French-Moroccan actor Assad Bouab (Call My Agent, Whatever Lola Wants) and award-winning Turkish-German film director, screenwriter and producer Fatih Akin.
Shivani Pandya Malhotra, Managing Director of the Red Sea Film Foundation, said: “We have a cohort of immense talent in this year’s jury, representing some of the leading creators of cinema from all corners of the world – and we are thrilled to have them join us in Jeddah to participate in this year’s competition. We have the strongest programming line-up yet, so it’s no mean feat to crown the winners amongst a stand-out year of cinema, and look forward to seeing the finalists celebrated at our Yusr Awards ceremony!”
The Red Sea: Honoree Award represents the festival’s unwavering desire to crown creativity in cinema by selecting an annual list of honorees; prominent cinematic figures and icons who contributed to shaping the history of cinema as we know it today, and immortalized it in the hearts of the masses. The award expresses great respect and appreciation on the part of the Festival for those with profound cinematic contributions from all over the world. This year’s honourees are: Ranveer Singh, Diane Kruger and Abdullah Al-Sadhan.
Mohammed Al-Turki, CEO of the Red Sea IFF, said: “This year we are honouring Ranveer Singh, an icon of Hindi cinema; Diane Kruger, who has delivered us a series of unforgettable characters from Helen of Troy to Tarantino’s Bridget von Hammersmark and affected us with her powerhouse performance of the avenging Angel Katja in Fatih Akin’s In the Fade; as well as the hugely beloved Abdullah Al-Sadhan who has been a mainstay of Saudi entertainment through Tash ma Tash for two decades and will also appear in this year’s competition title Norah. We are thrilled to be recognising each of their varied and deep contributions to cinema and to have them with us for our third edition.”
The Red Sea International Film Festival will run from 30 November – 9 December and launches with the World Premiere of the Saudi fantasy romance HWJN (2023), directed by Yasir Al Yasiri, as the Opening Night Gala of 2023. The Festival Awards night will reach a thrilling close with the MENA Premiere of Ferrari (2023), the new biopic from Academy Award nominee Michael Mann and starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz, before the curtain comes down with a celebratory end to the RSIFF, and the public programme, with a special screening of The Boy and The Heron (2023) by the venerable genius of Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki.
