Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has announced a new batch of mostly international titles set to launch in its Festival Favorites and Treasures strands, including the international premiere of U.S. actor-turned-director Jennifer Esposito’s New York City mob drama “Fresh Kills.”
Inspired by Esposito’s upbringing in Staten Island, “Fresh Kills” – in which Esposito co-stars with Annabella Sciorra – bowed stateside at the Tribeca Festival in June.
Other international talents peppered throughout the Red Sea sections likely to be making the trek to Saudi include Anna Kendrick with her period crime drama “Woman of the Hour”; David Oyelowo, producer of high-profile soccer doc “Allihopa: The Dalkurd Story”; Ewan McGregor and Ellen Burstyn for Swedish director Niclas Larsson’s “Mother, Couch”; Serena and Venus Williams as executive producers of “Copa 71,” the story of the groundbreaking 1971 Women’s World Cup; and French writer-director Laetitia Colombani with her drama “The Braid.”
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“We have incredible female directors included in this lineup of both established names and new talent,” said the fest’s director of international programming Kaleem Aftab, who touted that the selection “highlights the changing landscape of cinema from the Arab world, Asia and European countries as well as North and South America.”
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Other announced international titles include Belgian-based Moroccan duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s flashy third feature “Gangsta,” Argentinian director Rodrigo Moreno’s existential heist movie “The Delinquents” and Turkish legal drama “Hesitation Wound.”
Also expected to be on hand with films in these strands are Moroccan directors Asmae El Moudir for documentary hybrid “Mother of All Lies,” Sofia Alaoui for sci-fi thriller “Animalia” and Kamal Lazraq with his Casablanca-set crime film “Hounds.”
As previously announced, the Red Sea Fest is forging ahead with its third edition despite the Israel-Hamas war that has caused cancellations of several movie celebrations across the Arab world. The fest’s third edition is set to run Nov. 30-Dec. 9 in Jeddah, on the Red Sea’s eastern shore.
The fest’s classics selection this year includes local iconic titles “The Victory of Youth” (1941), which brought singers Farid al-Atrash and Asmahan to the big screen, and Egyptian romance “My Wife’s Goblin” (1968), both freshly restored in tandem with Egyptian Media Production City.
