Saudi film fans revel on ' green carpet' as fest begins
The “red carpet” was made of green artificial turf and women wore traditional black robes instead of plunging necklines when the third Saudi Film Festival opened on Thursday night. About 400 enthusiastic film fans filled a hall for the opening ceremony at a culture and arts centre in the Gulf coast city of Dammam. Although public cinemas are banned in the conservative kingdom, which practices an austere version of Islam, there is a growing interest in cinema and filmmaking.
Saudis are voracious viewers of online videos and rank among the world’s highest watchers of YouTube. Private film screenings are also held in the kingdom, although the festival’s English program says it takes place “under the supervision” of its organizer, the Saudi Arabian Society for Culture and Arts, and the information ministry. Yellow and purple lights swirled on the ceiling before the hall darkened.
A six-meter (yard) screen showed trailers from among the 70 Saudi productions competing at the five-day festival, while six speakers mounted high on the walls blared cinema-style sound. Women sat at the back, in keeping with the kingdom’s official policy of separation of the sexes, but almost none covered their faces, as is common in the capital Riyadh. Some even went without the traditional hair covering. Men were in front on red chairs-not plush theatre seats but the kind commonly used in banquet halls.
They hooted and loudly applauded the opening remarks of festival director Ahmed Al-Mulla before watching a tribute to the late Saad Al-Fruraih, a pioneering Saudi film and television director. Earlier, they crowded onto the “green carpet” in a courtyard, posing for photographs not by paparazzi but by the festival’s photo team with “media” emblazoned on their shirts. Some young men dispensed with the traditional white Saudi thobe and checkered shemagh headdress. Instead, they wore pork pie or Andy Capp hats, bow ties, permed hair and twisted moustaches. Organizers hope the event will help develop the country’s nascent film industry. “We try to raise the standards, to make it better,” Mulla told AFP ahead of the ceremony.
The festival will culminate on Monday night when winners receive Golden Palm Tree trophies in the drama, documentary and student categories. Scripts not yet in production are also judged. The films in competition address a range of topics, from extremism and war to health, human rights and social issues. Some provide a forum for the kingdom’s youth who “raise their voice about how they are living,” Mulla said. It is the second consecutive annual festival after the event resumed last year following an absence of seven years. — AFP