Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan appointed Eng. Abdullah bin Nasser Al Eyaf Al-Qahtani as CEO of the Film Commission, which was established to develop the Film Industry in the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday.
Al Eyaf is one of the leading names in Saudi filmmaking and has worked as a director, producer, and writer in many distinguished local works since 2004. He has also chaired arbitration committees in film festivals locally and regionally, and wrote critical cinematic articles in leading Saudi newspapers, such as Al Riyadh, Al Watan, and Asharq Al-Awsat, SPA said.
Al Eyaf, who graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in 2001, led the programs and events team at the Saudi Pavilion at Expo 2020.
He also took over the management of programs and initiatives at King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) for three years, besides taking several leading positions in Saudi Aramco, including the chairmanship of the departments of advertising, artistic production, events, and conferences.
The Film Commission will manage the film industry in the Kingdom through several key roles, including but not limited to; drawing up a comprehensive strategy, developing an ideal production environment that enables making Saudi films with high production standards and qualifies them to be promoted locally and internationally, supporting and empowering local talents in the filmmaking industry, encouraging investment, production and development of cinematic content and providing educational and professional programs.
It will also license sector activities and develop the intellectual property rights regarding film protection systems.
This comes in line with the implementation of the comprehensive cultural development project, which is run by the Ministry of Culture, and in fulfillment of the Saudi Vision 2030 goals.
