In addition to winning three Oscars, Oliver Stone has been nominated for 31 Academy Awards, including eight for acting, six for screenwriting, and three for directing.
Red Sea International Film Festival has named American film director, producer, and screenwriter Oliver Stone its jury president and unveiled a lineup of films set to compete in the Red Sea Competition at the second edition.
“Legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone has been chosen to lead the jury of the Red Sea: Features Competition jury,” organisers said. The three-time Academy Award winner is behind some of the masterpieces of cinema, including Scarface, The Doors, Wall Street, JFK, Midnight Express, Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Nixon and Natural Born Killers.
The Oscar-winning filmmaker was previously announced as jury president for the festival’s inaugural 2020 edition, which was postponed to 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.
Stone began experimenting with screenwriting, and he won an Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay for Midnight Express (1978), which was based on the true story of a man brutally abused while imprisoned for drug smuggling in Turkey.
The lineup of films will compete for the Yusr Awards, launched to recognise and celebrate boldness and innovation in film. The movie will be judged by a jury made up of renowned filmmakers and industry professionals from around the world.
Speaking about the lineup of films, Antoine Khalife, Director of Arab Programmes & Film Classics for RedSeaIFF, said: “The 16 films set to compete at the Red Sea Competition, of which several received crucial support from the Red Sea Fund, span a variety of different genres and eras and are created by a wide range of incredibly talented filmmakers. The Arab actors shine in extremely challenging roles, whilst the directors identify with the characters in all their complexity and we are thus confronted with regrets, redemption, courage, self-seeking and revenge, but also love in all its aspects.”
Kaleem Aftab, Director of International Programming for RedSeaIFF, added: “Following the success of our inaugural Red Sea Competition, we received a high number of submissions so there were tough decisions to be made. We have been delighted by the extraordinary storytelling and this year’s selection is of the highest calibre showcasing the enormous depth and diversity of stories from Asia, Africa and the Arab world.”
The films include Indonesian filmmaker Kamila Andini’s Before, Now, & Then, Iranian filmmaker Reza Jami’s Childless Village, Dirty Difficult Dangerous by Lebanese/French director Wissam Charaf, Hanging Gardens by Iraqi director Ahmed Yassin Al Daradji, Lotfy Nathan’s Harka, a recipient of the RSIFF’s Red Sea Souk Award, Indian film Last Film Show by director Pan Nalin, Mountain Onion by writer-director Eldar Shibanov, Next Sohee by South Korean filmmaker July Jung, Syrian director Soudade Kaadan’s Nezouh, Angolan director Ery Claver’s Our Lady Of The Chinese Shop, Raven Song by Saudi director Mohamed Al Salman, Omar Mouldouira’s A Summer In Boujad, The Last Queen by Algerian directors Damien Ounouri and Adila Bendimerad, The Pit by Kenyan editor–turned–writer-director Angela Wanjiku, and Within Sand by Saudi filmmaker Moe Alatawi.
The second edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival will run in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from December 1-10, 2022.
