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Red Sea Film Foundation Reveals Teams Selected for 4th Edition of '48hr Film Challenge'

Red Sea Film Foundation Reveals Teams Selected for 4th Edition of '48hr Film Challenge'
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Red Sea Film Foundation Reveals Teams Selected for 4th Edition of '48hr Film Challenge'

Red Sea Film Foundation Reveals Teams Selected for 4th Edition of '48hr Film Challenge'

The Red Sea Film Foundation has announced the teams selected for the fourth edition of the 48hr Film Challenge.
Launched in June 2024, this challenge is a collaboration between the foundation, the French Consulate in Jeddah, the Embassy of France in the Kingdom, and the Alliance Française, according to SPA.

The challenge aims to encourage emerging talents to think creatively in their cinematic pursuits and uncover innovative minds in independent filmmaking.
The selected teams will have the opportunity to participate in artistic workshops and guidance programs scheduled for July 19-20, 2024. These will include workshops on film directing, writing, and editing. The teams will then compete for 48 hours on July 26-27, 2024, with the winning teams set to be announced on September 19, 2024.
The French Consulate will provide 15 selected team members with two days of professional workshops in Jeddah and Riyadh featuring experts from France and the Kingdom. The workshops will include short film screenings and industry discussions, with the winning teams chosen by the jury.
The winning teams will be able to attend an artistic residency at the La Fémis School in France in 2025, organized by the French Consulate in Jeddah. The upcoming Red Sea International Film Festival in December 2024 will also screen the winning films.

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Varieties

Romania Seeks to Cull Nearly 500 Bears After Hiker Killed

A brown bear and her cub play on the road in the outskirts of Sinaia, 140 km north of Bucharest, June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A brown bear and her cub play on the road in the outskirts of Sinaia, 140 km north of Bucharest, June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Romania Seeks to Cull Nearly 500 Bears After Hiker Killed

A brown bear and her cub play on the road in the outskirts of Sinaia, 140 km north of Bucharest, June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A brown bear and her cub play on the road in the outskirts of Sinaia, 140 km north of Bucharest, June 15, 2009. REUTERS/Radu Sigheti/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Romania's parliament approved the culling of almost 500 bears this year in a bid to control the protected species' "overpopulation" after a deadly hiker attack sparked nationwide outcry.

Romania is home to Europe's largest brown bear population outside of Russia with 8,000, according to the environment ministry.

Bears have killed 26 people and severely injured 274 others over the last 20 years in the southeastern European country, the ministry said earlier this year.

After a young hiker was mauled to death on a popular trail in Romania's Carpathian Mountains, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu summoned lawmakers back from their summer recess to attend an emergency session of parliament, AFP reported.

As well as adopting legislation to control the brown bear population, the parliament held a moment of silence in the 19-year-old hiker's memory.

The law adopted Monday authorizes the culling of 481 bears in 2024, more than twice last year's total of 220.

Lawmakers argued that the bears' "overpopulation" had led to an increase in attacks, while admitting that the law will not prevent attacks in the future.

But environmental groups have denounced the measure.

"The law solves absolutely nothing," World Wildlife Fund biologist Calin Ardelean told AFP, arguing that the focus should be shifted towards "prevention and intervention" as well as so-called "problem bears".

According to WWF Romania, culls will not remedy the problem unless measures are put in place to keep bears away from communities, such as better waste management or preventing people from feeding animals.

In 2023, about 7,500 emergency calls to signal bear sightings were recorded, more than double the previous year, according to data presented last week by Romanian authorities.