The training programme has been designed to prepare 25 local trainees from AlUla to follow careers in Production, Assistant Directing, and the Art, Locations, Costume, Make-up and Hair departments.
Film AlUla, the Royal Commission for AlUla’s film agency, has partnered with the UK’s industry-led Creative Media Skills Institute to host a 10-day hands-on boot camp led by award-winning film professionals who will head to AlUla in north-west Saudi Arabia to pass on their knowledge and expertise to a new generation of local filmmakers.
The trainers include Ailie Smith, CEO of the Creative Media Skills Institute, known for her work on some of the highest-grossing UK movies of all time, including Harry Potter, Prince of Persia, Troy, Cold Mountain, and Mad Max; Iain Smith, a BAFTA-winning film producer awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by the Queen in the 2008 New Year’s Honours List; Terry Bamber, an assistant director who worked on 101 and 102 Dalmatians films with Micky Moore and Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan; and David Anderson, a director who, in addition to directing films such as Car Keys and The Temp, has participated in outreach initiatives that offer free filmmaking instruction to young people from underprivileged backgrounds.
The inaugural vocational film industry boot camp that is scheduled to run from February 26 for 10 days combines classroom study and hands-on, pragmatic workshops hosted in the landscape of AlUla, home to Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage site. The experimental educational training programme has been designed to prepare 25 local trainees from AlUla to follow careers in Production, Assistant Directing, and the Art, Locations, Costume, Make-up and Hair departments.
The boot camp is part of a series of initiatives supported by Film AlUla to build a workforce and attract inward investors to AlUla in order to boost the growth and productivity of the film industry in AlUla through meeting the higher-level skills required to accelerate the flourishing film sector in Saudi Arabia.
Aspiring talented and committed creatives will have the opportunity of developing new skills to build a career in the film industry from top screen professionals from the Creative Media Skills Institute which is based in the heart of the world-famous Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom.
