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Saudi Film Festival Brightens Future of Cinema in the Kingdom

King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture's Ithra Hall, Dammam
King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture's Ithra Hall, Dammam
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Saudi Film Festival Brightens Future of Cinema in the Kingdom

King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture's Ithra Hall, Dammam
King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture's Ithra Hall, Dammam

The 7th edition of the Saudi Film Festival has kicked off on Friday and will run until July 7. The event is managed and organized by Ahmed Al Mulla.

The Saudi Film Festival is one of two cinema-related events in the Kingdom. The other is the Red Sea International Film Festival, and it's scheduled for November. The first is dedicated to Saudi cinema and aims at developing the movie industry, and enhancing the cultural activity in the country, by sponsoring all sorts of cinema-related activities, movies, forums, and books.

The festival is set to screen a large number of works including short, small, narrative, and non-narrative films, aiming at offering "opportunities for Saudi young talents interested in movie making, and celebrating them."

The jury is composed of five members: Saudi Ali Alkalthami (head of the jury), Egyptian actress Bushra, Tunisian director Kawthar bin Haniyeh, Jordanian producer Monzer al-Rayahneh, and American critic Deborah Young.

The festival also organizes a scriptwriting contest featuring 254 participants, 14 of them already reached the finals (six long film scenarios, and eight short films scenarios). The jury of this contest is composed of Saad al-Dossari (president), and members Mohammed al-Bashir, and Raja Sayer Al-Mutairi.

The festival celebrates two cinema stars, Maamoun Hassan (who was head of production at the British Film Institute for several years), and Bahraini director Bassam al-Thawadi.

The Saudi Film Festival was launched in 2008, but its second edition was held in 2015, followed by two successive editions in 2016 and 2017, and then it returned in a sophisticated edition in 2019. Last year, the event went virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This year, the Saudi Film Festival is back with more momentum, purpose, and a team that insists on maintaining progress. It is held in the same location as the past years, at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture's Ithra Hall, Dammam. A large, beautifully designed venue surrounded by vast gardens, and housing a massive library, two screening halls, and a conference hall that could accommodate a wide audience.

The festival's manager, Ahmed Al Mulla has given special attention to the health measures imposed by the concerned authorities. In a conference he attended a few days ago, he discussed health concerns, and praised "the huge efforts the wise leadership and concerned authorities made to combat the pandemic, enabling the center to organize the event, and host a large audience with all the necessary health precautions."

This is not all. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Al Mulla answered six questions and revealed further details about the festival and the importance of this edition for the Saudi cinema.

• When you look at the past editions and the current one, how do you see the progress? And does it meet your aspirations?

The Saudi Film Festival has faced many challenges since its launch in 2008, especially the compulsive interruption that separated its first and second editions. The festival has faced many challenges, and the pandemic was the latest but not the last one. We didn't give up, and we redesigned its programs virtually. The digital edition was an adventure, but it achieved remarkable success and reach, which enhanced the plans of the current edition. This year, we managed to organize a live event with a huge audience and keep the virtual platform to ensure that the largest number of spectators watch the festival.

Yes, we dreamed of a wide prospect, we hoped to receive a merited appreciation, and called for support…and our dreams have become true. Our biggest goal was to make a Saudi film with an artistic value that highlights the aesthetics of the country, heritage, and history. In this edition, I feel I am closer to this dream, and I see it approaching for the first time.

• The festival is growing quickly. I attended the 5th edition, and I noticed great organization and planning that I didn't see in other Arab festivals. This makes me ask: What are your ambitions for the coming editions?

My ambition is to see the festival maintain the focus on its main goal: Competition and Saudi movies. I want it to include more diverse programs that inspire movie makers. This will help the movie industry keep growing with constant leaps, similar to those we saw since its debut. I hope the festival will always be a knowledge platform that inspires art and beauty.

• How did the festival benefit moviemakers in the Kingdom so far?

Moviemakers can speak better about the benefits they gained from the festival. For me, the ultimate gain is their gathering at the same place and time in an environment where they can exchange views, and enhance connections. Then there is motivation, decent competition, and development of tools through rich programs providing workshops, forums, books, and regular discussions.

• How did the festival come to light? And who was behind the idea and its implementation?

In 2006, I was a member of the literary club in the Eastern Province and its executive manager. I was also responsible for the events it organizes. Driven by my interest in cinema, I suggested organizing a weekly cinema night, and I chose the movies that were screened during it. The idea lured a great audience of young Saudis who formed a team of movie fans (some opposed the idea). After a lot of negotiations, the club and the Culture and Arts Association in Dammam agreed to organize the first festival. Those who participated in the organization were many, but I won't say names because I don't want to forget anyone.

• Did other Arab film festivals support Saudi films? And how?

Of course, they did. Before, within, and after the Saudi Film Festival, every Saudi movie that partakes in an Arab or international contest will bring many advantages for moviemakers and colleagues. It would contribute to developing the content, encourage others, mark a presence in other festivals, and leave a beautiful trace in the audience's imagination about the Saudi movie.

• A number of Saudi movies will be screened at the Red Sea International Film Festival. How do the Saudi Movie Festival, and moviemakers benefit from this participation?

The Red Sea International Film Festival is an important platform that plays a major role in Saudi Arabia's aspirations for the future because it seeks to fulfill Arab and international ambitions and motivate Saudi movie makers to exert more effort. The festival has already launched several support and development programs, along with its upcoming edition in November. I believe the integration between the two festivals is possible and is actually happening.

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Perry Bamonte, Keyboardist and Guitarist for The Cure, Dies at 65

Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on May 20, 2023 in Chula Vista, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on May 20, 2023 in Chula Vista, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Perry Bamonte, Keyboardist and Guitarist for The Cure, Dies at 65

Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on May 20, 2023 in Chula Vista, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
Perry Bamonte of The Cure performs at North Island Credit Union Amphitheater on May 20, 2023 in Chula Vista, California. (Getty Images/AFP)

Perry Bamonte, keyboardist and guitarist in The Cure, has died at 65, the English indie rock band confirmed through their official website on Friday.

In a statement, the band wrote that Bamonte died "after a short illness at home" on Christmas Day.

"It is with enormous sadness that ‌we confirm ‌the death of our ‌great ⁠friend and ‌bandmate Perry Bamonte who passed away after a short illness at home over Christmas," the statement said, adding he was a "vital part of The Cure story."

The statement said Bamonte was ⁠a full-time member of The Cure since 1990, ‌playing guitar, six-string bass, ‍and keyboards, and ‍performed in more than 400 shows.

Bamonte, ‍born in London, England, in 1960, joined the band's road crew in 1984, working alongside his younger brother Daryl, who worked as tour manager for The Cure.

Bamonte first worked as ⁠an assistant to co-founder and lead vocalist, Robert Smith, before becoming a full member after keyboardist Roger O'Donnell left the band in 1990.

Bamonte's first album with The Cure was "Wish" in 1992. He continued to work with them on the next three albums.

He also had various acting ‌roles in movies: "Judge Dredd,About Time" and "The Crow."

Entertainment

First Bond Game in a Decade Hit by Two-month Delay

'007 First Light' depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill. Ina FASSBENDER / AFP
'007 First Light' depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill. Ina FASSBENDER / AFP
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First Bond Game in a Decade Hit by Two-month Delay

'007 First Light' depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill. Ina FASSBENDER / AFP
'007 First Light' depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill. Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

A Danish video game studio said it was delaying the release of the first James Bond video game in over a decade by two months to "refine the experience".

Fans will now have to wait until May 27 to play "007 First Light" featuring Ian Fleming's world-famous spy, after IO Interactive said on Tuesday it was postponing the launch to add some final touches.

"007 First Light is our most ambitious project to date, and the team has been fully focused on delivering an unforgettable James Bond experience," the Danish studio wrote on X.

Describing the game as "fully playable", IO Interactive said the two additional months would allow their team "to further polish and refine the experience", giving players "the strongest possible version at launch".

The game, which depicts a younger Bond earning his license to kill, is set to feature "globe-trotting, spycraft, gadgets, car chases, and more", IO Interactive added.

It has been more than a decade since a video game inspired by Bond was released. The initial release date was scheduled for March 27.

Entertainment

Movie Review: An Electric Timothee Chalamet Is the Consummate Striver in Propulsive ‘Marty Supreme’

Timothee Chalamet attends the premiere of "Marty Supreme" at Regal Times Square on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP)
Timothee Chalamet attends the premiere of "Marty Supreme" at Regal Times Square on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP)
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Movie Review: An Electric Timothee Chalamet Is the Consummate Striver in Propulsive ‘Marty Supreme’

Timothee Chalamet attends the premiere of "Marty Supreme" at Regal Times Square on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP)
Timothee Chalamet attends the premiere of "Marty Supreme" at Regal Times Square on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in New York. (AP)

“Everybody wants to rule the world,” goes the Tears for Fears song we hear at a key point in “Marty Supreme,” Josh Safdie’s nerve-busting adrenaline jolt of a movie starring a never-better Timothee Chalamet.

But here’s the thing: everybody may want to rule the world, but not everybody truly believes they CAN. This, one could argue, is what separates the true strivers from the rest of us.

And Marty — played by Chalamet in a delicious synergy of actor, role and whatever fairy dust makes a performance feel both preordained and magically fresh — is a striver. With every fiber of his restless, wiry body. They should add him to the dictionary definition.

Needless to say, Marty is a New Yorker.

Also needless to say, Chalamet is a New Yorker.

And so is Safdie, a writer-director Chalamet has called “the street poet of New York.” So, where else could this story be set?

It’s 1952, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Marty Mauser is a salesman in his uncle’s shoe store, escaping to the storeroom for a hot tryst with his (married) girlfriend. This witty opening sequence won’t be the only thing recalling “Uncut Gems,” co-directed by Safdie with his brother Benny before the two split for solo projects. That film, which feels much like the precursor to “Marty Supreme,” began as a trip through the shiny innards of a rare opal, only to wind up inside Adam Sandler’s colon, mid-colonoscopy.

Sandler’s Howard Ratner was a New York striver, too, but sadder, and more troubled. Marty is young, determined, brash — with an eye always to the future. He’s a great salesman: “I could sell shoes to an amputee,” he boasts, crassly. But what he’s plotting to unveil to the world has nothing to do with shoes. It’s about table tennis.

How likely is it that this Jewish kid from the Lower East Side can become the very face of a sport in America, soon to be “staring at you from the cover of a Wheaties box?”

To Marty, perfectly likely. Still, he knows nobody in the US cares about table tennis. He’s so determined to prove everyone wrong, starting at the British Open in London, that when there’s a snag obtaining cash for his trip, he brandishes a gun at a colleague to get it.

Shaking off that sorta-armed robbery thing, Marty arrives in London, where he fast-talks his way into a suite at the Ritz. Here, he spies fellow guest Kay Stone (Gwyneth Paltrow, in a wise, stylish return to the screen), a former movie star married to an insufferable tycoon (“Shark Tank” personality Kevin O’Leary, one of many nonactors here.)

Kay’s skeptical, but Marty finds a way to woo her. Really, all he has to say is: “Come watch me.” Once she sees him play, she’s sneaking into his room in a lace corselet.

This would be a good time to stop and consider Chalamet’s subtly transformed appearance. He is stick-thin — duh, he never stops moving. His mustache is skimpy. His skin is acne-scarred — just enough to erase any movie-star sheen. Most strikingly, his eyes, behind the round spectacles, are beady — and smaller. Definitely not those movie-star eyes.

But then, nearly all the faces in “Marty Supreme” are extraordinary. In a movie with more than 100 characters, we have known actors (Fran Drescher, Abel Ferrara); nonacting personalities (O’Leary, and an excellent Tyler Okonma (Tyler, The Creator) as Marty’s friend Wally); and exciting newcomers like Odessa A’Zion as Marty’s feisty girlfriend Rachel.

There are also a slew of nonactors in small parts, plus cameos from the likes of David Mamet and even high wire artist Philippe Petit. The dizzying array makes one curious how it all came together — is casting director Jennifer Venditti taking interns? Production notes tell us that for one hustling scene at a bowling alley, young men were recruited from a sports trading-card convention.

Elsewhere on the creative team, composer Daniel Lopatin succeeds in channeling both Marty’s beating heart and the ricochet of pingpong balls in his propulsive score. The script by Safdie and cowriter Ronald Bronstein, loosely based on real-life table tennis hustler Marty Reisman, beats with its own, never-stopping pulse. The same breakneck aesthetic applies to camera work by Darius Khondji.

Back now to London, where Marty makes the finals against Japanese player Koto Endo (Koto Kawaguchi, like his character a deaf table tennis champion). “I’ll be dropping a third atom bomb on them,” he brags — not his only questionable World War II quip. But Endo, with his unorthodox paddle and grip, prevails.

After a stint as a side act with the Harlem Globetrotters, including pingpong games with a seal — you’ll have to take our word for this, folks, we’re running low on space — Marty returns home, determined to make the imminent world championships in Tokyo.

But he's in trouble — remember he took cash at gunpoint? Worse, he has no money.

So Marty’s on the run. And he’ll do anything, however messy or dangerous, to get to Japan. Even if he has to totally debase himself (mark our words), or endanger friends — or abandon loyal and brave Rachel.

Is there something else for Marty, besides his obsessive goal? If so, he doesn’t know it yet. But the lyrics of another song used in the film are instructive here: “Everybody’s got to learn sometime.”

So can a single-minded striver ultimately learn something new about his own life?

We'll have to see. As Marty might say: “Come watch me.”