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Saudi Arabia Marks Its Strongest, Most Prominent Participation at Cannes Film Festival

The Saudi pavilion succeeded in confirming the position of Saudi Arabia as an incubator for the Arab film industry during the 74th edition if Cannes Film Festival. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi pavilion succeeded in confirming the position of Saudi Arabia as an incubator for the Arab film industry during the 74th edition if Cannes Film Festival. Asharq Al-Awsat
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Saudi Arabia Marks Its Strongest, Most Prominent Participation at Cannes Film Festival

The Saudi pavilion succeeded in confirming the position of Saudi Arabia as an incubator for the Arab film industry during the 74th edition if Cannes Film Festival. Asharq Al-Awsat
The Saudi pavilion succeeded in confirming the position of Saudi Arabia as an incubator for the Arab film industry during the 74th edition if Cannes Film Festival. Asharq Al-Awsat

As the Cannes Film Festival wraps up its 74th edition on Saturday, many of those following the international event turned their attention to Saudi Arabia, which participated actively and remarkably.

Saudi Arabia participated in the Cannes Film Festival through an integrated Saudi pavilion, with wide participation from a number of government agencies, and the private sector.

The activities were organized upon the directions of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Abdelaziz, as part of his continuous support for the Kingdom’s cultural sector.

While Saudi Arabia had taken part in the 71st edition, this year was different.

The public sector played a role alongside the private sector, and participated at an unprecedented scale, with the participation of the Film Commission, Ministry of Investment, Royal Commission for AlUla, Red Sea International Film Festival, the MBC channel group, Ithraa, NEOM Company, Nebras Films, Cinewaves films, and Arabian Pictures Group, in addition to a group of filmmakers and other Saudi institutions.

During the festival, the Saudi pavilion also acted as a platform for open dialogue among Saudi and Arab filmmakers and investors with their international counterparts.

The Saudi pavilion succeeded in confirming the position of Saudi Arabia as an incubator for the Arab film industry, and a significant and influential market in the Middle East, where aspirations of investors from around the world meet.

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Scientists: Giant Kangaroos Perished During 'Climate Upheaval'

This handout photo taken on April 17, 2025, and released on April 23, 2025 by the University of Wollongong shows Scott Hocknull, a vertebrate palaeontologist and senior curator at the Queensland Museum, holding a Protemnodon skull fossil. (Photo by Handout / UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG / AFP)
This handout photo taken on April 17, 2025, and released on April 23, 2025 by the University of Wollongong shows Scott Hocknull, a vertebrate palaeontologist and senior curator at the Queensland Museum, holding a Protemnodon skull fossil. (Photo by Handout / UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG / AFP)
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Scientists: Giant Kangaroos Perished During 'Climate Upheaval'

This handout photo taken on April 17, 2025, and released on April 23, 2025 by the University of Wollongong shows Scott Hocknull, a vertebrate palaeontologist and senior curator at the Queensland Museum, holding a Protemnodon skull fossil. (Photo by Handout / UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG / AFP)
This handout photo taken on April 17, 2025, and released on April 23, 2025 by the University of Wollongong shows Scott Hocknull, a vertebrate palaeontologist and senior curator at the Queensland Museum, holding a Protemnodon skull fossil. (Photo by Handout / UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG / AFP)

Giant prehistoric kangaroos perished when "climate upheaval" turned lush Australian rainforest into desert, scientists said Thursday after studying ancient fossils with new techniques.

Weighing as much as 170 kilograms (375 pounds) -- almost twice as hefty as the chunkiest living kangaroos -- the extinct "Protemnodon" bounded across Australia as many as five million years ago, AFP reported.

Researchers were able to recreate the foraging habits of one population by matching long-lived chemicals from fossilized teeth to recently unearthed rocks.

Similarities in chemical composition helped mark how far the kangaroos hopped in search of food.

"Imagine ancient GPS trackers," said Queensland Museum scientist Scott Hocknull.

"We can use the fossils to track individuals, where they moved, what they ate, who they lived with and how they died -- it's like Palaeo Big Brother."

Scientists found the mega-herbivores lived in what was then a verdant rainforest -- barely venturing far from home to forage.

The rainforest started to wither around 300,000 years ago as the region's climate turned "increasingly dry and unstable".

"The giant kangaroos' desire to stay close to home, during a time of major climate upheaval 300,000 years ago, likely contributed to their demise," the researchers said.

Species of giant kangaroo survived in other parts of Australia and Papua New Guinea, with the last populations surviving until around 40,000 years ago.

Scientist Anthony Dosseto said the new techniques could be used to better understand the disappearance of Australia's megafauna.

Prehistoric species of giant echidna, wombat-like marsupials weighing over two tons, and hulking flesh-eating lizards once roamed the Australian continent.

"The debate about the extinction of the Australian megafauna has been going on for decades, but now we can take it to an individual and species-by-species perspective," said Dosseto, from the Wollongong Isotope Geochronology Lab.

"With these precise techniques, each site and each individual can now be used to test and build more accurate extinction scenarios."

The findings were published in peer-reviewed journal PLOS One.