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Saudi Arabia Allocates SAR 300 Million for Investments in Film Industry

The film sector in Saudi Arabia is witnessing an unprecedented stage of support and development. (The Cultural Development Fund)
The film sector in Saudi Arabia is witnessing an unprecedented stage of support and development. (The Cultural Development Fund)
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Saudi Arabia Allocates SAR 300 Million for Investments in Film Industry

The film sector in Saudi Arabia is witnessing an unprecedented stage of support and development. (The Cultural Development Fund)
The film sector in Saudi Arabia is witnessing an unprecedented stage of support and development. (The Cultural Development Fund)

The Saudi Cultural Development Fund (CDF) revealed a new investment program in the film sector at a value of 300 million Saudi riyals (about $80 million), and the launch of a global partnership with international institutions.

The Cultural Fund launched its new investment program on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival, which is being held in France, with the participation of various Saudi entities.

The CDF announced partnerships with MEFIC Capital and holding company ROAA Media Ventures to establish the Film Investment Fund, budgeted at $100 million.

The CDF will contribute 40% of the amount, through an investment program launched during the Cannes Festival, as part of the IGNITE government digital content program’s film sector financing initiative.

In this context, Mohammed bin Dayel, CEO of the CDF, said the new fund aims to invest in film sector companies and projects, and provide the necessary financing, build a network of entrepreneurs and distribution experts to support companies.

He added that the fund also seeks to collaborate with local and international investors and attract foreign expertise to turn the Kingdom into a major film-making center.

Bin Dayel stressed that the Saudi film industry was one of the fastest growing cultural sectors in the Kingdom, in light of the growing demand for cinematic content, which necessitates supporting visual content makers and companies.

The CDF plans through the investment track to achieve self-sustainability, and to build an effective and supportive film sector by 2030.

According to bin Dayel, the budget allocated to the Film Sector Financing Initiative is the highest among all artistic and cultural initiatives in Saudi Arabia.

He noted that the initiative is expected to contribute to developing creative talents and attracting foreign expertise, making the Kingdom a major center for the film industry in the region and the world.

In March, the Cultural Fund launched the lending program within the Film Sector Financing Initiative, which it designed to provide financing packages for small and medium-sized companies, as well as film production, distribution and infrastructure projects, as part of its efforts to support investment, enhance the profitability of the sector, and empower creators.

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Varieties

Blood Tests Allow 30-year Estimates of Women's Cardio Risks, New Study Says

A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Blood Tests Allow 30-year Estimates of Women's Cardio Risks, New Study Says

A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A woman jogs in a park in Saint-Sebastien-sur-Loire near Nantes, France January 19, 2024. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Women’s heart disease risks and their need to start taking preventive medications should be evaluated when they are in their 30s rather than well after menopause as is now the practice, said researchers who published a study on Saturday.

Presenting the findings at the European Society of Cardiology annual meeting in London, they said the study showed for the first time that simple blood tests make it possible to estimate a woman’s risk of cardiovascular disease over the next three decades.

"This is good for patients first and foremost, but it is also important information for (manufacturers of) cholesterol lowering drugs, anti-inflammatory drugs, and lipoprotein(a)lowering drugs - the implications for therapy are broad," said study leader Dr. Paul Ridker of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Reuters reported.

Current guidelines “suggest to physicians that women should generally not be considered for preventive therapies until their 60s and 70s. These new data... clearly demonstrate that our guidelines need to change,” Ridker said. “We must move beyond discussions of 5 or 10 year risk."

The 27,939 participants in the long-term Women’s Health Initiative study had blood tests between 1992 and 1995 for low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C or “bad cholesterol”), which are already a part of routine care.

They also had tests for high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) - a marker of blood vessel inflammation - and lipoprotein(a), a genetically determined type of fat.

Compared to risks in women with the lowest levels of each marker, risks for major cardiovascular events like heart attacks or strokes over the next 30 years were 36% higher in women with the highest levels of LDL-C, 70% higher in women with the highest levels of hsCRP, and 33% higher in those with the highest levels of lipoprotein(a).

Women in whom all three markers were in the highest range were 2.6 times more likely to have a major cardiovascular event and 3.7 times more likely to have a stroke over the next three decades, according to a report of the study in The New England Journal of Medicine published to coincide with the presentation at the meeting.

“The three biomarkers are fully independent of each other and tell us about different biologic issues each individual woman faces,” Ridker said.

“The therapies we might use in response to an elevation in each biomarker are markedly different, and physicians can now specifically target the individual person’s biologic problem.”

While drugs that lower LDL-C and hsCRP are widely available - including statins and certain pills for high blood pressure and heart failure - drugs that reduce lipoprotein(a) levels are still in development by companies, including Novartis , Amgen , Eli Lilly and London-based Silence Therapeutics.

In some cases, lifestyle changes such as exercising and quitting smoking can be helpful.

Most of the women in the study were white Americans, but the findings would likely “have even greater impact among Black and Hispanic women for whom there is even a higher prevalence of undetected and untreated inflammation,” Ridker said.

“This is a global problem,” he added. “We need universal screening for hsCRP ... and for lipoprotein(a), just as we already have universal screening for cholesterol.”