عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Saudi Film Wins Prestigious Jury Awards at Sundance Film Festival

A still from the movie "Dunya's Day"
A still from the movie "Dunya's Day"
TT
20
TT

Saudi Film Wins Prestigious Jury Awards at Sundance Film Festival

A still from the movie "Dunya's Day"
A still from the movie "Dunya's Day"

A Saudi film has been awarded the prestigious Jury Prize awards at the Sundance Film Festival 2019 at a ceremony in Park City, Utah.

The film, directed by Raed Alsemari, became the first Saudi film to be shown at the renowned Sundance Film Festival.

It tells the story of Dunya as she struggles to organize an important party after her household staff fails to show up to help.

The all-Saudi cast includes Sarah Balghonaim as Dunya, and Sarah Altaweel and Rahaf as Dalal and Deema, her best friends. Balghonaim joined the project to help with casting, but when Alsemari was unable to find an actor he liked for the title character, he asked Balghonaim to take the role.

By making a film with an all-female cast, Alsemari and the actors were keen to highlight the fact that Saudi women have stories that deserve to be told, and that films need not be driven by male characters. Inspired by classic Hollywood movies such as “Mean Girls” and “Heathers,” Alsemari wanted to put his own, Saudi twist on those stories.

Dunya's Day was selected from over 14,259 submissions from 152 countries. The members of the three-person jury were actor Sheila Vand (“We the Animals”), playwright Young Jean Lee, and filmmaker and photographer Carter Smith (“Jamie Marks Is Dead”).

The winning shorts will be screened on the festival’s final day, Sunday, Feb. 3, at 10:30 a.m. at the Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main St., Park City. A touring show of festival shorts, with a lineup to be determined, will screen in theaters nationwide this fall.

Most Viewed

 
Varieties

Philippine Volcano Spews Ash Plume Into the Sky, Prompting School Closures

This handout photo taken from the Facebook account of Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography on April 8, 2025 shows Mount Kanlaon erupting as seen from a village in La Castellana, Negros Occidental Province, central Philippines. (Photo by Handout / Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography Facebook account / AFP)
This handout photo taken from the Facebook account of Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography on April 8, 2025 shows Mount Kanlaon erupting as seen from a village in La Castellana, Negros Occidental Province, central Philippines. (Photo by Handout / Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography Facebook account / AFP)
TT
20
TT

Philippine Volcano Spews Ash Plume Into the Sky, Prompting School Closures

This handout photo taken from the Facebook account of Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography on April 8, 2025 shows Mount Kanlaon erupting as seen from a village in La Castellana, Negros Occidental Province, central Philippines. (Photo by Handout / Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography Facebook account / AFP)
This handout photo taken from the Facebook account of Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography on April 8, 2025 shows Mount Kanlaon erupting as seen from a village in La Castellana, Negros Occidental Province, central Philippines. (Photo by Handout / Channel Nicor of C.N. Photography Facebook account / AFP)

A restive Philippine volcano briefly erupted Tuesday on a central island, sending a 4-kilometer (2.4-mile) plume of ash and debris into the sky and forcing authorities to suspend school classes in four villages due to ashfall, officials said.
There were no reports of injuries or damage from Mount Kanlaon’s latest eruption after dawn that lasted more than an hour and scattered ash in at least four farming villages southwest of the volcano on Negros island, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.
Kanlaon last erupted in December, prompting the evacuation of thousands of villagers, many of whom remained in emergency shelters on Tuesday as the volcano continued showing signs of restiveness, the Office of Civil Defense said.
Philippine chief volcanologist Teresito Bacolcol told The Associated Press there were no other key signs of restiveness, like a spike in volcanic earthquakes, that would prompt the alert on Kanlaon to be raised from the current level 3, which means a “high level of volcanic unrest." The highest alert, level 5, means a “hazardous eruption is in progress.”
“The possibility of a bigger eruption is always there,” Bacolcol said, urging people to remain vigilant and stay away from a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) danger zone around Kanlaon.
The 2,435-meter (7,988-foot) volcano is one of the country’s 24 most active volcanoes. In 1996, three hikers were killed near the peak and several others were later rescued when Kanlaon erupted without warning, officials said then.
The Philippines is located in the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a region prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The archipelago is also lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms a year, making it one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries.