A series of workshops and panels will be held during the Red Sea International Film Festival as part of the Red Sea 360°, Talent Days, and Networking Sessions.
The Red Sea 360° will gather Arab, African, Asian, European and North American speakers for a series of panels reflecting today’s entertainment industry during the Red Sea International Film Festival.
The Red Sea 360° is co-organised and co-curated in association with Winston Baker, the producer of entertainment and finance conferences worldwide.
The Red Sea 360° offers four days of talks on production, finance and innovation in the entertainment industry. Festival attendees can join up to 13 sessions covering a variety of topics such as sales and distribution, co-productions, investment opportunities in the Arab region, incentives and tax rebates, funding into content, streaming, music, storytelling, episodic content, Metaverse and more.
During these talks, more than 50 panellists from the global film industry will share their knowledge and expertise such as Wayne Borg (Neom), Lina Matta and Natasha Matos-Hemingway (MBC Group), Tony El Messih (Majid Al Futtaim – VOX Cinemas), Abduljalil Al Nasser (Saudi Film Commission), Charlene Deleon-Jones (Film Al-Ula), Michael Schaefer (New Regency), Vincent Maraval (Wild Bunch), Karim Safieddine and Maroun Najm (Cinemoz), Faisal Baltyuor (Cinewaves), David Grumbach (Bac Films), Gianluca Chakra (Front Row Filmed Entertainment), Mohammed Hefzy (Film Clinic), Bader Al Zahrani (TwoAtoms), Rula Nasser (The Imaginarium Films), Rohit D’Silva (VIU), Clay Epstein (Film Mode Entertainment), Adhrucia Apana (Curiosity Entertainment), Academy Award Nominated Producer, Donald Kushner, Producer Michael Uslan (Batman Franchise) and Germain Coly (Ministry of Culture of Senegal).
Will be joining the panel’s other notable Entertainment Executives from Lux Studio, Vine Alternative Investments, Elysian Film Group, Big World Cinema, Sørfond, the Abu Dhabi Film Commission, the Royal Film Commission, and more; in addition to Grammy-Award Winning Music Producer, Sergio George, Award-Winning composer Suad Bushnaq, and two exclusive masterclasses presented by Netflix.
The Networking Sessions will take place across three days during the Red Sea Souk. As part of the Red Sea International Film Festival’s commitment to fostering new filmmaking talent, the Networking Sessions will provide opportunities for new entrants and emerging filmmakers to connect and network with key industry players during informal yet organised 15-minute speed-meetings. Tailored to enhance connections between Festival/Souk attendees and industry professionals, the Networking Sessions will gather over 80 selective industry guests, spread over three sessions dedicated to three main stages in a film’s evolution: development, production and distribution.
The Red Sea Souk unveiled its full Talent Days’ programme of events, the Red Sea 360° Industry talks and the Networking Sessions. These three programmes will invite Saudi and International directors and producers to a series of workshops and panels during the Red Sea International Film Festival, led by established names in the filmmaking world.
This year, the Talent Days programme has been redesigned to focus entirely on a new generation of filmmakers. Aspiring talents will receive a unique insight into the filmmaking world from experienced industry professionals and will have the opportunity to make valuable networking connections.
Participants to the Talent Days Programme will meet with the Talent Days’ Godmother, Kaouther Ben Hania, a leading independent Arab director, who will share with them how filmmaking became both her calling and her instinctive language.
Participants will also have access to five dedicated mentors from different backgrounds within the cinema industry. The mentors include Saudi filmmaker Raed Alsemari, US-based Lebanese filmmaker Rania Attieh, Belgian film critic and short film expert Katia Bayer, as well as Jon Goldman and Hakim Mao, both hailing from Paris, respectively experts in screenwriting as well as filmmakers.
Myriam Arab, Lead Consultant for the Red Sea Souk, said: “We warmly welcome all participants, festival and market attendees to take part in this enriching journey into the Red Sea Souk, to hear from some of the best industry key players, and to make the most of these mentoring and matchmaking opportunities. In this competitive and sensitive filmmaking industry, knowledge-sharing, support and networking are deeply important to talent development. We are delighted to have such fantastic cinema professionals on board sharing their expertise so generously with our participants and attendees.”
As part of the Red Sea Souk, the three programmes will take place at the Ritz Carlton, Jeddah, during the Red Sea International Film Festival and will be open to All Badges.
The Red Sea 360° will take place from December 3 to 6, 2022.
The Networking Sessions will take place from December 3 to 5, 2022, from 5 pm to 6:30 pm.
The Talent Days programme will take place on December 7 and 8, 2022.
