The Red Sea International Film Festival has partnered with Final Cut, the Venice Production Bridge programme that supports African and Middle Eastern films
The Red Sea International Film Festival (RSIFF) has just announced its latest partnership with the Venice Production Bridge programme, Final Cut, in addition to presenting five films funded by RSIFF at the 79th Venice International Film Festival.
The fund was launched to help Arab and African filmmakers, particularly in the crucial stages of film production, post-production and development, as part of the RSIFF’s goal to nurture regional talent and support them in presenting their narratives to a wider audience.
“We are thrilled to form a partnership with the Venice Film Production Bridges ‘Final Cut’ programme to strengthen our commitment to filmmakers from the region to bring more projects to fruition so they can make the selection at the world’s most prestigious festivals,” said Mohammed Al Turki, CEO of the RSIFF. “The calibre of films presented from the region this year is remarkable and are guaranteed to make their mark on global audiences.”
The films funded by the RSIFF showing in Venice include Iraqi writer-director Ahmed Yassin Al Daradj’s debut feature Hanging Gardens which follows the story of As’ad, a 12-year-old rubbish picker in Baghdad. Other anticipated showings are Lebanese-French director Wissam Charaf’s Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous; French-Algerian director Damien Ounouri’s The Last Queen; and Moroccan director and writer Yasmine Benkiran’s debut feature Queens.
"The Venice Production Bridge is honoured to have the additional support of the Red Sea International Film Festival for our Final Cut in Venice workshop and more generally to have such a privileged relationship,” said Pascal Diot, Head of Venice Production Bridge. “The RSIFF has become in a very few years an unavoidable player in the MENA region and one of the key investors and supporters of Arab cinema and new immersive content.”
