AlUla Hosts Creative Boot Camp to Develop Saudi Cinematic Talents

The program is designed to prepare and train Saudi talents at the hands of a group of professional expertise (Film AlUla)
The program is designed to prepare and train Saudi talents at the hands of a group of professional expertise (Film AlUla)
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AlUla Hosts Creative Boot Camp to Develop Saudi Cinematic Talents

The program is designed to prepare and train Saudi talents at the hands of a group of professional expertise (Film AlUla)
The program is designed to prepare and train Saudi talents at the hands of a group of professional expertise (Film AlUla)

Saudi Arabia’s AlUla is preparing to host a creative boot camp to train a generation of cinematic talents, empower them with knowledge and practical experiences, and develop the film industry in the Kingdom.

This comes as part of AlUla’s endeavor to promote its transformation to a new cinematic destination, after it opened its doors to local and international productions in 2020.

Film AlUla, the Royal Commission for AlUla’s film agency, has partnered with the UK’s industry-led Creative Media Skills Institute to host a 10-day hands-on boot camp led by award-winning film professionals who will head to AlUla in north-west Saudi Arabia to pass on their invaluable knowledge and expertise to a new generation of local filmmakers.

The two organizations have teamed up to give 25 local trainees from AlUla the opportunity to pave their way into the world of cinema.

The training program, which will be held in AlUla, Saudi Arabia’s northwestern region, will prepare talents for employment in production, assistant directing, and the art, locations, costume, make-up and hair departments.

Aspiring talented and committed creatives will have the unique opportunity of developing new skills to build a career in the film industry from top screen professionals from the Creative Media Skills Institute which is based in the heart of the world-famous Pinewood Studios in the UK.

Charlene Jones, Executive Director at Film AlUla, has affirmed that Saudi Arabia’s film industry is beginning to flourish, and developing local film professionals is crucial to the success of building film production in AlUla.
The Kingdom, according to Jones, is home to a large pool of creative and technical talent.

Jones also noted that the Creative Media Skills Institute has a team of highly experienced screen industry professionals that will be sharing their expertise with a new generation of a young film crew to help them break into the industry and ensure they are set ready for more Film and TV production coming to the region.  



Latest Tests Show Seine Water Quality Was Substandard When Paris Mayor Took a Dip

 Boats carrying members of delegations sail along the Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Boats carrying members of delegations sail along the Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
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Latest Tests Show Seine Water Quality Was Substandard When Paris Mayor Took a Dip

 Boats carrying members of delegations sail along the Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024. (AFP)
Boats carrying members of delegations sail along the Seine during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024. (AFP)

Tests results released Friday showed the water quality in the River Seine was slightly below the standards needed to authorize swimming — just as the Paris Olympics start.

Heavy rain during the opening ceremony revived concerns over whether the long-polluted waterway will be clean enough to host swimming competitions, since water quality is deeply linked with the weather in the French capital.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo took a highly publicized dip last week in a bid to ease fears. The Seine will be used for marathon swimming and triathlon.

Daily water quality tests measure levels of fecal bacteria known as E. coli.

Tests by monitoring group Eau de Paris show that at the Bras Marie, E. coli levels were then above the safe limit of 900 colony-forming units per 100 milliliters determined by European rules on June 17, when the mayor took a dip.

The site reached a value of 985 on the day the mayor swam with Paris 2024 chief Tony Estanguet and the top government official for the Paris region, Marc Guillaume, joined her, along with swimmers from local swimming clubs.

At two other measuring points further downstream, the results were below the threshold.

The statement by Paris City Hall and the prefecture of the Paris region noted that water quality last week was in line with European rules six days out of seven on the site which is to host the Olympic swimming competitions.

It noted that "the flow of the Seine is highly unstable due to regular rainfall episodes and remains more than twice the usual flow in summer," explaining fluctuating test results.

Swimming in the Seine has been banned for over a century. Since 2015, organizers have invested $1.5 billion to prepare the Seine for the Olympics and to ensure Parisians have a cleaner river after the Games. The plan included constructing a giant underground water storage basin in central Paris, renovating sewer infrastructure, and upgrading wastewater treatment plants.