‘Cinema Nights’ Back in Saudi Arabia with Exclusive Shows

The Red Sea Film Foundation logo
The Red Sea Film Foundation logo
TT

‘Cinema Nights’ Back in Saudi Arabia with Exclusive Shows

The Red Sea Film Foundation logo
The Red Sea Film Foundation logo

The Red Sea Film Foundation has announced the return of the “Cinema Nights” series, which will be held on Thursday in partnership with Diriyah Biennale Foundation.
The “Cinema Nights” program will present a selected series of exclusive film screenings, including the “Night Music” and the Saudi film “Noura” by Saudi director and writer Tawfiq Al-Zaidi, in addition to other Saudi and international short films which will be screened in the JAX District in Diriyah.
The program offers visitors captivating cinematic experiences according to the latest audio and video technologies, with Arabic and English subtitles available for all films scheduled to be screened. The program will also show a selection of feature films every Thursday from April 18 to May 23, with the weekend being allocated to short films from May 10 to 11.
Question and answer sessions will also be organized with distinguished cinematic talents, providing the audience with the opportunity to interact with the filmmakers and ask their questions. This exceptional partnership between two of the Kingdom’s foremost cultural institutions aims to enrich the cinematic and cultural landscape, enhance creativity, and attract promising talents in the film industry.



Taipei Zoo's Veteran Giant Panda Celebrates 20th Birthday

Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
TT

Taipei Zoo's Veteran Giant Panda Celebrates 20th Birthday

Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Panda Yuanyuan enjoys her birthday cake for her 20th birthday at the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)

With politics set aside, well-wishers gathered to wish the Taipei zoo’s senior panda a happy 20th birthday.
Visitors crowded around Yuanyuan's enclosure to take photos of her with a birthday cake in the shape of the number 20.
Yuanyuan was born in China and arrived in 2008 with her partner Tuantuan. He died in 2022 at age 18 but not before fathering two female cubs, Yuanzai and Yuanbao, now 11 and 4 respectively and still living at the zoo.
Danielle Shu, a 20-year-old Brazilian student in Taiwan, said she found online clips of the pandas an enjoyable distraction. “And I just find it really funny and cute,” The Associated Press quoted Shu as saying.
Giant pandas are native only to China, and Beijing bestows them as a sign of political amity. Yuanyuan and Tuantuan arrived in Taiwan during a period of relative calm between the sides, which split amid civil war in 1949. China claims the island its own territory, to be annexed by military force if necessary.
Faced with declining habitat and a notoriously low birthrate, giant panda populations have declined to around 1,900 in the mountains of western China, while 600 pandas live in zoos and breeding centers in China and around the world.