Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Saudi Film Festival announces, through the press release below, the details of the ninth edition of the festival, which is scheduled to be held in May 4-11 2023, organized by Cinema Association and in partnership with the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), which started since the second edition that was held in 2015, which is still In continuous development and with the support of the Film Commission at the Ministry of Culture, which comes for the fourth year in a row since the sixth edition of 2020, which emphasizes the commission’s role in providing substantial support for Saudi filmmakers.

Comedy cinema is the theme of the ninth edition program

The festival sheds light in each session on a different cinematic axis, and in its ninth edition, the festival chooses an important axis, which is comedy cinema, as it stimulates and encourages makers to pay attention to this axis in their upcoming productions, in addition to that it will present a special program for international film screenings that present as important models from the heart of this axis throughout the festival days.

Honoring cinema leaders

The festival continues its annual tradition of celebrating cinema pioneers in the Kingdom and the Gulf as well as to highlight their achievements and careers. In its ninth edition, the festival honors: Saleh Al-Fawzan, who worked as a producer in Egyptian cinema, and he produced 34 feature films. Amin Saleh, who is a Bahraini Writer and film critic, has translated many international cinematic works into Arabic, and has written about twenty scripts for TV series and seven scripts for dramatic films.

fife competitions and nine new awards

This edition includes film and script competitions with the development of its structure and additions to its awards In its ninth session, the festival presents 20 awards for film competitions, 6 awards for the unproduced script competition, and 6 grants for production market projects. and the nominees will compete for the following awards:

Feature Film Competition

  • Golden Palm for Best Feature Film
  • Jury Golden Palm
  • Golden Palm for Best Actor
  • Golden Palm for Best Actress
  • Golden Palm for Sound Design
  • Golden Palm for best Cinematography
  • Golden Palm for Best produced script
  • Golden Palm for Best Film Editing

Short Film Competition

  • Golden Palm for best Short Film
  • Jury Golden Palm
  • Golden Palm for Best Actor
  • Golden Palm for Best Actress
  • Golden Palm for best Cinematography
  • Golden Palm for best Animated Film
  • Abdullah Al Muhaisin Award for the first film

Documentary Film Competition

  • Golden Palm for Best Documentary
  • Jury Golden Palm
  • Unique Documentary Subject Award
  • Jabal Tuwaiq Award for the best film about a Saudi city

Unproduced Script Competition

  • Best first Feature Film screenplay award
  • Best Second Feature Film screenplay award
  • Best Third Feature Film screenplay award
  • Best first Short Film screenplay award
  • Best Second Short Film screenplay award
  • Best third Short Film screenplay award

Production Market Competition

  • Development Grant for Feature Film
  • Production Support Grant for Feature Film
  • Post-production support grant for Feature
  • Development Grant for Short Film
  • Production Support Grant for Short Film
  • Post-production support grant for Short Film

Special Award

  • GCC Film Award

-Ends-