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Red Sea Shorts, New Saudi Cinema Competitions Kicks Off

Red Sea Shorts, New Saudi Cinema Competitions Kicks Off
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Red Sea Shorts, New Saudi Cinema Competitions Kicks Off

Red Sea Shorts, New Saudi Cinema Competitions Kicks Off

The Red Sea International Film Festival screened the first films participating in the Red Sea Shorts Competition and the New Saudi Cinema Competition.
The event is testimony to the organizers' dedication to nurturing and promoting Saudi cinematic talent.
The films selected for the New Saudi Cinema category, introduced at this year's festival, demonstrate the creative works of the Kingdom's filmmakers, according to SPA.
The festival aims to empower emerging talent, foster opportunities for success and provide a platform for them to exhibit their creations.
The 19 selected films have a duration of 5 to 44 minutes. They cover a diverse range of topics, such as confronting extremism, social adaptation and personal conflict resolution. All the films were produced by Saudi teams, with a majority of the production or filming taking place in Saudi Arabia.
The selected films in the short films category include: Street 105, The Ride, Fishbowl, Kum-Kum, I'm Fine, The Menace from Above, Saleeg, Antidote, Fishy, The Old School, Art Block, Detour, The Last Winter, Khaled El Sheikh: Between the Thorns of Art and Politics, and Fiasco Run.
Program Manager of the New Saudi Cinema at the Red Sea Film Festival Foundation Mohyeeddin Qari emphasized the festival's dedication to representing and celebrating Saudi cinema. He said that the organizers look forward to presenting diverse and inspiring stories from all parts of the Kingdom that showcase creativity and innovation.

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UK Blues Legend John Mayall Dead at 90 

English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
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UK Blues Legend John Mayall Dead at 90 

English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)

John Mayall, the British blues pioneer whose 1960s music collective the Bluesbreakers helped usher in a fertile period of rock and brought guitarists like Eric Clapton to prominence, has died at 90, his family said Tuesday.

Mayall, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who was dubbed "the godfather of British blues," and whose open-door arrangement saw some of the greats in the genre hone their craft with him and his band, "passed away peacefully in his California home" on Monday, according to a statement posted on his Facebook page.

It did not state a cause of death.

"Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world's greatest road warriors," it said. "John Mayall gave us 90 years of tireless efforts to educate, inspire and entertain."

Mayall's influence on 1960s rock and beyond is enormous. Members of the Bluesbreakers eventually went on to join or form groups including Cream, Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and many more.

At age 30, Mayall moved to London from northern England in 1963. Sensing revolution in the air, he gave up his profession as a graphic designer to embrace a career in blues, the musical style born in Black America.

He teamed up with a series of young guitarists including Clapton, Peter Green, later of Fleetwood Mac, and Mick Taylor who helped form the Rolling Stones.

In the Bluesbreakers' debut album in 1966, "Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton," John Mayall enthralled music aficionados with a melding of soulful rock and gutsy, guitar-driven American blues featuring covers of tunes by Robert Johnson, Otis Rush and Ray Charles.

The blues music he was playing in British venues was "a novelty for white England," he told AFP in 1997.

That album was a hit, catapulting Clapton to stardom and bringing a wave of popularity to a more raw and personal blues music.

Mayall moved to California in 1968 and toured America extensively in 1972.

He recorded a number of landmark albums in the 1960s including "Crusade," "A Hard Road," and "Blues From Laurel Canyon." Dozens more followed in the 1970s and up to his latest, "The Sun Is Shining Down," in 2022.

Mayall was awarded an OBE, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, in 2005.