Red Sea Film Festival Opens Submissions for 3rd Edition Until August 18

Red Sea Film Festival.
Red Sea Film Festival.
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Red Sea Film Festival Opens Submissions for 3rd Edition Until August 18

Red Sea Film Festival.
Red Sea Film Festival.

The Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) announced on Sunday the start of accepting submissions for its third edition from filmmakers and distributors in the Arab, Asian, and African regions, as well as Saudi filmmakers, to present their feature and short films until August 18, 2023.

The RSIFF is scheduled to take place starting November 30 and until December 9, 2023, SPA said.

The third edition of the festival's program comprises 11 sections dedicated to showcasing selections from contemporary global and Arab cinema.

It encompasses Saudi narrative feature and short films, experimental films, augmented reality and virtual reality projects with futuristic themes, as well as selected Saudi narrative, documentary, and short films.

These sections highlight the creative works of the pioneers of the emerging cinema movement in the Kingdom, presenting them to the world and reflecting the diverse and vibrant aspects of national cinema.



Actor Theo James Urges More Support for Refugees Hit by Climate Crisis

 Actor and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Theo James looks on during a visit to Aghor, while on a trip with the United Nations refugee agency, in Mauritania, October 9, 2024. (UNHCR/Caroline Irby/Handout via Reuters)
Actor and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Theo James looks on during a visit to Aghor, while on a trip with the United Nations refugee agency, in Mauritania, October 9, 2024. (UNHCR/Caroline Irby/Handout via Reuters)
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Actor Theo James Urges More Support for Refugees Hit by Climate Crisis

 Actor and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Theo James looks on during a visit to Aghor, while on a trip with the United Nations refugee agency, in Mauritania, October 9, 2024. (UNHCR/Caroline Irby/Handout via Reuters)
Actor and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Theo James looks on during a visit to Aghor, while on a trip with the United Nations refugee agency, in Mauritania, October 9, 2024. (UNHCR/Caroline Irby/Handout via Reuters)

Refugees should be included in climate policy, actor and UNHCR goodwill ambassador Theo James has said as he heads to COP29 to call for greater support for those affected by the impact of climate change.

James, whose grandfather was a refugee who fled Greece for Syria during World War Two, will join the UN refugee agency and refugee advocates at the climate summit in Baku.

"The Gentlemen" and "Divergent" actor travelled to Mauritania's southeastern Hodh Chargui region last month, meeting refugees who had fled conflict in Mali for an area already facing poverty, limited access to basic services and climate shocks.

The semi-arid Sahel has been hit by increasing weather extremes including higher temperatures and drought.

"Refugees do not contribute to the vast majority of rising global temperatures and carbon emissions but they are on the frontline of suffering," James told Reuters.

In its first climate report released on Tuesday, the UNHCR said three out of four forcibly displaced people worldwide - 90 million out of 120 million - lived in countries exposed to high to extreme climate change impacts.

“Now the UNHCR has ... specific data which links the climate crisis to forcibly displaced people and the refugee crisis, we need to amplify the message that those two things are intimately interlinked," James said. "They will forever be hand in hand and more so in the future."

The summit has been dubbed the "climate finance COP" for its central goal: to agree on how much money should go each year to helping developing countries cope with climate-related costs.