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Saudi Film Festival Director: Motion Pictures Are Dreams Come True

Group photo of the winners at the Saudi Film Festival's fifth edition
Group photo of the winners at the Saudi Film Festival's fifth edition
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Saudi Film Festival Director: Motion Pictures Are Dreams Come True

Group photo of the winners at the Saudi Film Festival's fifth edition
Group photo of the winners at the Saudi Film Festival's fifth edition

Saudi Film Festival director Ahmed Al Mulla, at the 2019 filmmaking’s event closing ceremony, told participants that a sixth edition of the festival will be held, saying that “motion pictures are dreams come true”.

Similar to the 2019 edition, the sixth film festival will also be held at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra).

Awards were handed out to 20 winners in four of the festival’s categories: best script, students' films, documentary films and feature films. The sum total of all prizes combined amounts to $114,000.

“Zero Distance”, an Ithraa production directed by Abdul Aziz Al-Shalahi bagged the feature film’s Golden Palm Award.

Shalahi, for his part, says the festival's central objective is not to hand out awards to filmmakers, but empower and boost inter-connectivity amongst the Saudi movie-making industry.

“Cave” by Abdulrahman Sondakji won best documentary.

Moaz Al Awfi, who won two prizes for the movie "Mahaheel", best film shot in a Saudi city and special documentary, said that the film festival was highly competitive with only the crème de la crème qualifying to compete. Out of 154 submitted movies only 54 qualified.

The 2019 fifth Saudi Film Festival was the first of its kind to join the Kingdom’s Sharqiyyah Season festivities in the Eastern Province— attended by Saudi Arabia’s first and largest gathering of recreational, artistic, cultural and sporting events.

Sharqiyyah Season festival is the first of 11 scheduled festivals planned for Saudi Arabia in 2019. It features more than 80 events in Eastern Province cities, including Al-Dammam, Dhahran, Alkhobar, Al-Ahsa and Jubail

Award-winning Saudi novelist Abdo Khal, a member of the feature films’ judge panel, reviewed participating motion pictures. In his critique, he said that some films were plagued by a weak screenplay and the excessive use of backdrop soundtracks.

Apart from competing movies, the festival’s fifth edition also saw competitive screenplays with 186 works apply to be slated for the non-performing script competition, 89 qualified.

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‘Less Snow’: Warm January Weather Breaks Records in Moscow

A woman walks with a stroller near a pond during warm weather in Moscow, Russia, 28 January 2025. (EPA)
A woman walks with a stroller near a pond during warm weather in Moscow, Russia, 28 January 2025. (EPA)
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‘Less Snow’: Warm January Weather Breaks Records in Moscow

A woman walks with a stroller near a pond during warm weather in Moscow, Russia, 28 January 2025. (EPA)
A woman walks with a stroller near a pond during warm weather in Moscow, Russia, 28 January 2025. (EPA)

January 2025 is on track to be one of the warmest in Moscow on record, meteorologists reported on Wednesday, with two of the past days breaking all-time daily temperature highs.

Thermometer readings on Wednesday have not dipped below an "April-like" 3.8 degrees Celsius (38.8 Fahrenheit), much higher than the historical average below freezing, according to Russia's Phobos weather center.

Residents in the capital told AFP there was less snow for children to play with, and that there was "mud everywhere", making dog walks more challenging.

Experts warn more temperature records will be broken in the future as human-driven climate change disrupts global weather patterns.

"Of course, we don't like winter like this... Everything should be in moderation," 68-year-old pensioner Galina Kazakova told AFP in central Moscow.

"It is very bad for nature, because the snow should lie on the fields, so that it melts, so that everything grows well," she added.

Monday and Tuesday were the warmest of those dates since records started, while Wednesday is also set to beat its historical high, Russia's RBK news outlet reported, citing meteorologists.

"January, which is approaching a heat record, continues to surprise," meteorologist Mikhail Leus said on Telegram, posting a video of chanterelle mushrooms poking through patches of snow in the forest.

Central Russia's state meteorological service said Moscow was on track for its "second warmest January" since records began, beaten only by January 2020.

Russian state media reported January 2025 could be warmer than even that year.

Climatologist Alexey Karnaukhov was uncertain about whether this January would be the warmest.

"It's hard to say whether there will be a record. In 2020, there was no stable snow cover in Russia's midland either, and this year is not unique," Karnaukhov told AFP.

"We live in an era of global warming, warm years will become more and more frequent. Even if the current values turn out to be a record, it will definitely not be the last," he told AFP.

On the streets of the capital, residents expressed both joy and concern at the unseasonably warm weather.

"I like it all. It is very pleasant to walk," said 19-year-old student Olga Medvedeva.

"I like winter better the way it was," said Elena Aleksandrova, 73.

"We take the dog for walks, he likes to play in the snow too. Now where can you walk? There is mud everywhere."