An “eco-system” of finance, lending and talent development is driving the creation of Saudi Arabia’s nascent film industry, key figures in the Middle Eastern kingdom’s cultural sector said this week.
Speaking during the third edition of the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Abdullah Alkhaldi, chief investment and credit officer at Saudi Arabia’s Cultural Development Fund, said its aim was to be “the financial enabler in pursuing and achieving a cultural vision.”
The fund, which launched two years ago, has $152 million available for lending to cultural projects along with a $80 million Film Investment Fund, which was announced inCannes last May.
The CDF would support the country’s emerging film industry with a focus on both its cultural and economic benefits until it became a “self-sustaining sector,” Alkhaldi added, at a market panel on “Unlocking Co-Production Opportunities With the Arab World.”
The fund was focused on investing in infrastructure, with a 70/30 split in funds between that and content, he said.
“One of our aims is to reduce risk for private investor, so they can see [investing in the Saudi film industry] as an opportunity, rather than a risk. We’ve launched a program for private investors where we share a fifth of our 20% on investment returns with them to encourage them to join us in investing in film.”
Emad Z. Eskander, head manager at theRed Sea Fund, which supports development, production and post-production in Arab and African films – with grants worth $14 million this year – said it had backed 242 projects since being launched two years ago.
In a country where a 40-year ban on cinemas was lifted just five years ago, there were now rich opportunities for international producers, Eskander said.
“We don’t even [stipulate] that you have to have a Saudi producer – though I hope that soon we will have our own producers,” he said.
“There are great opportunities for the world in what is happening here – starting from the [tax] rebate [of 40%], having the Cultural Development Fund, great box office, locations, writers and talent. Saudi Arabia is a sleeping giant that is now waking up.”
Andrew Smith, corporate affairs director at the U.K.’s Pinewood, who was on his first visit to Saudi Arabia, praised the festival and the energy of the kingdom’s emerging film industry.
“You clearly have a very strong cultural offering and you are from a part of the world with a really rich tapestry of storytelling. There is one way to go – and that is to expand.”
Marianne Khoury, co-founder of Dahshur Workshops and artistic director of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, said the opportunities now available in Saudi Arabia could inspire other parts of the Middle East.
In Egypt, which has a 120-year history of filmmaking “very few [international] projects are coming…because we have some internal complications. We have to review how we work with the rest of the world,” she added.
