Johnny Depp’s ‘Modi’ & Robbie Williams Biopic ‘Better Man’ Head To Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Fest With Karim Shenawi’s ‘The Tale Of Daye’s Family’ Set As Opener

The Red Sea International Film Festival has unveiled the bulk of the line-up for its fourth edition, which will showcase 120 films from 81 territories from December 5 to 14 in the port city of Jeddah.

The festival will open with Egyptian director Karim Shenawi’s The Tale Of Daye’s Family (aka Light) about an 11-year-old Nubian albino boy with a beautiful voice, who faces adversity due to his unique appearance.

Abandoned by his father and bullied by his peers, he dreams of following in the footsteps of his idol, singer and actor Mohamed Mounir. When he gets a chance to audition for The Voice, Daye and his family embark on a perilous 1,000-mile journey from Southern Egypt to Cairo.

Michael Gracey’s semi-biographical feature Better Man, inspired by Robbie Williams and portraying the pop icon as chimpanzee, will close the festival.

Johnny Depp’s Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness, which was supported by the Red Sea Film Foundation, and employed participants of its apprenticeship program as crew, will also screen in a special awards night gala

Further starry titles in the Gala line-up include Peter Chelsom’s A Sudden Case Of Christmas, with its star Danny Devito expected to hit the red carpet in Jeddah, Pablo Larrain’s biopic Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as iconic tragic opera singer Maria Callas; Mehdi Idir’s Monsieur Aznavour, starring Tahar Rahim as the French crooner; and Thierry Teston and Lisa Azeulos’ Jane Fonda-narrated doc My Way, and We Live In Time with Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield.

The main competition will feature 15 titles from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

A number of titles, which have already created buzz on the festival circuit, will have their MENA premieres at the festival such as Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown, which debuted at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight; Afghan filmmaker Roya Sadat’s Sima’s Song, exploring the evolution of women’s rights during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in the 1970s, and Indian director Reema Kagti’s comedy Superboys of Malegaon, based on the true story of a group of amateur filmmakers who came together to create a film that honors their city, and Iraqi-Austrian filmmaker Kurdwin Ayub’s Moon.

This year will see the festival return to Jeddah’s historic Al Balad district, after two editions at the Ritz-Carlton while the headquarters for its parent body the Red Sea Film Foundation were being built. The festival’s unveiled its promotional video for this edition, shot against the backdrop of the gentrified Al Balad quarter to give a taste of what participants and spectators can expect.

2024 Line-up TITLE/director

Red Sea: Competition

SUPERBOYS OF MALEGAON

Reema Kagti

HANAMI

Denise Fernandes

TO A LAND UNKNOWN

Mahdi Fleifel

MOON

Kurdwin Ayub

SONGS OF ADAM

Oday Rasheed

RED PATH

Lotfi Achour

SNOW WHITE

Taghrid Abouelhassan

BIN U BIN, BORDER ELSEWHERE

Mohamed Lakhdar Tati

SAIFY

Wael Abumansour

AÏCHA

Mehdi M. Barsaoui

SEEKING HAVEN FOR MR RAMBO

Khaled Mansour

SIMA’S SONG

Roya Sadat

6 IN THE MORNING

Mehran Modiri

TO KILL A MONGOLIAN HORSE

Xiaoxuan Jiang

SABA

Maksud Hossain

Arab Specular Special Screenings (Announced Nov 5)

ABDO & SANEYA

Omar Bakry

FRONT ROW

Merzak Allouache

HOBAL

Abdulaziz Alshlahei

LAIL NAHAR

MY DRIVER AND I

Ahd Kamel

Red Sea: New Vision (announced Oct 30)

ALROSHAN

Mohammed Ous

KEMOKAZI

Abdulrahman Batawie

 OTHMAN IN THE VATICAN

Yasir Bin Ghanem

WHEN THE LIGHT SHINES

Ryan Al Bishri

YALLA PARKOUR

Areeb Zuaiter

Red Sea: Series (announced Oct 30)

GHOST TRAIN

 Se-Woong Tak

LOST WORLDS WITH BETTANY HUGHES: THE NABATAEANS

Jim Greayer

Red Sea: Shorts Competition – Arab Selection:

FRAGMENTS OF LIFE

Anis Ben Dali

SAINT ROSE

Zayn Alexandre

THE SIGNAL

Nasser Alqattan

SHAMS

Adam Rayan

CHIKHA

Ayoub Layoussifi and Zahoua Raji

AFRICAN FAMILY DINNER

Ibrahim Mursal

IN THREE LAYERS OF DARKNESS

Houcem Slouli

CHILDREN OF BARZAGH

Ahmed Khattab

MERA, MERA, MERA

Khaled Zidan

MALIKA

Maram Taibah

LAND OF GOD

Imad Benomar

NEMSHI?

Assaf Al Rousan

FIZR

Rani Nasr

ZAHRA

Hadi Shatat

ONE LAST TIME

Karim Rahbani

Red Sea: Shorts Competition – International Selection (Announced Oct 18)

ACROSS THE WATER

Viv Li

ALAZAR

Beza Hailu Lemma

HATCH

Alireza Kazemipour and Panta Mosleh

LAI LEI

Binglin Cui

LUNGE

Negar Hassanzadeh

NAILS

Triparna Banerjee

NEVER HAVE I EVER

Joyce A. Nashawati

PIE DAN LO

Kim Yip Tong

RADIKALS

Arvin Belarmino

SANKI YOXSAN

Azer Guliev

UREFU WE KAMBA

Mageto Ndege

WASHHH

Mickey Lai

New Saudi, New Cinema Selection:

A MOSQUITO

Raneem Almohandes and Dana Almohandes

THE POST

Zakaria Albashir

THE DREAMER DREAMS

Abdulmohsen Albinali

UNDERGROUND

Abdulrahman Sandokji

PAVLOV’S BELLS

Khalid Fahad

KHAMSEN

Abdullah Alrowis

TWO SISTERS

Waleed Alqahtani

TIED

Yam Fida

WHERE’S THE IMAM?

Abrar Qari

WHEN THE SHELVES HYMN

Hanaa Saleh Alfassi

ASEER MEMORY

Saad Tahaitah

DIAA SHAMSI

Lama Jarkas

SUGAR

Khalid Bin Waleed

THE EXTRAORDINARY MISADVENTURES OF THE AMAZING BOY SUPER-BLURRY

Hassan El Hejaili

SAEED’S DAY

Mohammed Zawari

GUM

Belal Albader

THE EDGE (ORA)

Ahmed Alqithmi

THE CERTAINTY

Ahmad Kurdi

DOES IT HURT TOO BAD TO LOOK AT ME?

Rana Matar

Winners of the fourth edition of the 48 hours challenge:

ALL IN ONE NIGHT (AION)

Thoraya Akram

AFEN

Nawaf Alkinani and Othman Al Khowiter