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The Red Sea International Film Festival has set the lineup for its inaugural edition which runs from December 6-15 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The roster includes 138 titles from 67 countries and will open with MGM’s Joe Wright-directed musical romance Cyrano. The film previously played Telluride and Rome among others and releases domestically on December 31. Among highlights are also Netflix’s Venice Film Festival drama The Lost Daughter. Closing the Red Sea Fest is the world premiere of Egyptian director Amr Salama’s Bara El Manhag.

Sixteen films will run in the competition which is focused on films from Asia, Africa and the Arab world (see full list below). They will vie for the Golden Yusr Award as well as in individual directing, acting and writing categories. Among the titles screening are Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon, Georgian Oscar submission Brighton 4th and Panah Panahi’s Hit The Road.

Kaleem Aftab,...

Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Zbanic’s upcoming drama about a family trapped in war-torn Srebrenica, Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s postwar film chronicling the rise and fall of a mysterious Czech healer, and Luxembourg helmer Jacques Molitor’s tale of a wealthy and bloodthirsty clan of wine-growing lycanthropes are among the projects taking part in this year’s Venice Gap-Financing Market.

The 6th edition of the market section, which runs during the Venice Film Festival from Aug. 30 to Sept. 1, presents 51 international projects in the final stages of development and funding, including 28 feature films and documentaries.

Among the projects selected for the market, part of the Venice Production Bridge program, is Zbanic’s tentatively titled European co-production “Quo Vadis Aida.” In the film, the director of the Golden Bear-winning “Grbavica” revisits the horrors of the Bosnian War in a story about a family trapped in Srebrenica during the city’s occupation by Serb forces.

The sixth edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market (August 30 – September 1), which takes place during the Venice Film Festival, will feature 51 projects in the final stages of development and funding.

Of those, 23 projects from Europe and beyond are narrative features with 70% funding in place. Five projects are documentaries.

Among highlights are Czech feature Sarlatan by Oscar-nominated Polish director Agnieszka Holland (Mr. Jones) about a man gifted with exceptional abilities set against the background of the events of the totalitarian ’50s; Russian film Air by Dovlatov director Alexey German Jr; Grbavica director Jasmila Zbanic’s Euro co-pro Quo Vadis Aida (working title); and Canadian pic Saint-Narcisse by Bruce La Bruce.

Here’s a full list of projects taking part in the market:

28 Selected Fiction And Documentary Projects

Air (Russia) by Alexey German Jr., SAGa, Metrafilms Alam (France, Lebanon, Belgium) by Firas Khoury, Mpm Film A la sombra de los árboles (Chile) by Matías Rojas Valencia,...

Irrfan Khan, Christina Voros and Catherine Dussart to preside over feature competition juries; seven world premieres of Arab films in feature competitions.

Abu Dhabi Film Festival (Oct 23-Nov 1) has released the names of its jury members, who will select the award winners of this year’s Adff competitions.

This year’s Narrative Features jury led by Mumbai-based actor Irrfan Khan (The Lunchbox, Life of Pi) will be rounded out by Algerian novelist and academic Waciny Laredj, award-winning English writer-director Steven Shainberg, Australian film director Cate Shortland and Palestinian actor Ali Suliman.

The panel evaluating the New Horizons section led by Paris-based film producer Catherine Dussart (The Missing Picture) includes Syrian actor Bassel Al Khayat, Moroccan filmmaker Leila Kilani, Geneva-based Indian filmmaker Anup Singh and film critic Charles Tesson, artistic director of Critics’ Week at the Cannes Film Festival.

Heading the Documentary Features jury is Brooklyn-based director and cinematographer Christina Voros. The other jury...

Exclusive: Camino Filmverleih, distributor of Berlinale Competition titles Stations of the Cross and Jack, is to make a foray into production this year.

Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily, Camino head of distribution, acquisitions and sales Kamran Sardar Khan revealed that sci-fi drama Der Polder and the comedy Metal Train will be co-produced via Camino’s parent company Niama Film.

The Stuttgart-based distributor will be a minority partner on Samuel Schwarz’s Der Polder will be produced by Switzerland’s Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion, Kam(m)acher GmbH, and Niama Film with backing from broadcasters Swr and Srf and Bundesamt für Kultur (Bak) and Zürcher Filmstiftung.

Campaigns with an augmented reality game and a MP3 audiowalk based on the film’s storyline have already been running in various Swiss towns to generate interest in the project.

Principal photography is set to begin in Zurich this March, with theatrical release planned for spring 2015 by Camino Filmverleih in Germany and Stammfilm in Switzerland...