Red Sea Film Foundation has raft of activities at Venice Film Festival
The Red Sea Film Foundation (Red Sea FF) has a raft of activities at this year’s Venice Film Festival, with six films supported by the Red Sea Fund selected for screening. These include Aïcha and Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo in the Orizzonti and Orizzonte Extra sections, respectively, as well as two projects featured in the Venice Production Bridge’s Final Cut initiative: Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore and In This Darkness I See You. Additionally, two films, Sudan, Remember Us and To Kill A Mongolian Horse, have been selected for the Giornate degli Autori competition.
Among the standout selections is Mehdi Barsaoui’s Tunisian drama Aïcha, which previously won a development prize at the 2021 Red Sea International Film Festival and will now be screened in the Orizzonti section. Khaled Mansour’s Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo, an Egyptian drama developed through the Red Sea Lodge in 2021 and supported by the Red Sea Fund in 2023, marks a significant return for Egyptian cinema to the festival, premiering in the Orizzonte Extra section.
In the Giornate degli Autori sidebar, two more films supported by the Red Sea Fund will be showcased: Hind Meddeb’s documentary Sudan, Remember Us and To Kill a Mongolian Horse by Chinese director Xiaoxuan Jiang.
For the third consecutive year, Red Sea FF is partnering with Venice’s Final Cut programme, which supports the post-production of films from African and Middle Eastern countries. This year, the Foundation offers a €5,000 prize for a winning film. Projects receiving support include Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore, an Egyptian film by Morad Mostafa, and the Lebanese thriller In This Darkness I See You by Nadim Tabet.
Red Sea FF continues its role as the presenting sponsor for the Venice Film Festival amfAR Gala, with Jomana Al-Rashid, Chairwoman of the Red Sea Foundation, chairing the event alongside other notable industry figures including Achille Borolii, Willem Dafoe, Matteo Fantacchiotti, Alejandra Gere, Andrei Gillott, Harry Goodwins, T. Ryan Greenawalt, Lucien Laviscount, Julian Lennon, Tony Mancilla, Kevin Mcclatchy, Catherine O’Hara, Vin Roberti, Caroline Scheufele, David Tait, Emir Uryar and Jon Watts.
Speaking about the participation, Jomana Al-Rashid said: “This year in Venice, the Foundation is supporting six films that demonstrate the importance and power of Arab, Asian and African cinema and encapsulate the pillars of the Foundation – creativity, diversity and cultural exchange. We’re honoured to have played a part in their journey to the festival, as well as to be continuing our partnership with the influential Final Cut programme with two incredible projects from talented filmmakers from across the region. At this year’s festival, we are also notably underscoring our expansion to Asia with our support of Chinese director Xiaoxuan Jiang, which marks our first project from the country.”
Final Cut in Venice is the industry program that has been providing concrete support since 2013 in the completion of films from all African countries and five countries of the Middle East: Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria. The programme offers the opportunity to present films still in the production phase to international film professionals, in order to facilitate post-production and film market access.
Since its establishment in 2021, the Red Sea Fund has supported over 250 film projects across the Arab world, Africa, and Asia, fostering storytelling and filmmaking in the region. This year’s edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival is scheduled to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from December 5 to 14, 2024.
