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he Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea Iff) marked the closing of its third edition with a screening of Micheal Mann's Ferrari, a Red Sea International Film Financing project, and revealed the winners of its highly anticipated Yusr Awards. The festival also welcomed Hollywood icon Nicolas Cage, receiving a Red Sea Honoree award, and joining the 2023 Honoree line-up of Diane Kruger, Ranveer Singh, and Abdullah Al-Sadhan. Kristoffer Borgli's comedy horror Dream Scenario, starring Nicolas Cage, will screen as the Final Festival Gala on Saturday 9th December.

Two juries deliberated to finally select winners across 14 categories; led by Jury President Baz Luhrmann. Seventeen films in competition, as well as 23 shorts, were in the running for the coveted awards.

The festival this year celebrated its biggest year yet in terms of attendance – welcoming almost 6,000 accredited guests and selling more than 40,000 tickets across all screenings and In Conversations.

The Closing Ceremony...

The third annual Red Sea Film Festival handed out its Yusr Awards on Thursday night, with Zarrar Kahn’s In Flames taking Best Feature and Farah Nabulsi’s The Teacher scoring a pair of wins including Best Actor for Saleh Bakri. See the full list below.

Elvis director and two-time Oscar nominee Baz Luhrmann headed the Rea Sea jury, which handed out awards in 17 categories.

The Saudi Arabian fest also gave a Red Sea Honorary Award to Nicolas Cage. The Oscar winner, whose Dream Scenario will close the festival on December 9, joined fellow 2023 honorees Diane Kruger, Ranveer Singh and Abdullah Al-Sadhan.

“Over the past eight days, we have welcomed the world to Jeddah and celebrated this vibrant global film community together – with a goal of bridging cultures and creating new ties,” said Jomana Al-Rashid, Chairwoman of the Red Sea Film Foundation. “We’ve done that with over 125 films from Saudi Arabia,...

At the closing ceremony of the 3rd edition of the Red Sea Film Festival Thursday, which took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in front of an audience that included Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Jason Statham and Adrien Brody, the Golden Yusr for best film and a $100,000 cash prize went to Pakistani-Canadian horror film “In Flames,” directed by Zarrar Kahn.

The director said that the indie movie was shot for “just $300,000 — the size of a Red Sea Fund production grant.” He urged “everyone who gets a grant to go make a movie, because this was made for nothing.”

The Silver Yusr prize for best feature film went to Tarsem Singh for “Dear Jassi.” The film, an India/Canada/U.S. co-production, is based on the true story of a Canadian Punjabi woman who ran afoul of her family’s expectations when she chose to marry a working-class...

The 2023 Chanel X Biff Asian Film Academy has come to a close with the graduation ceremony and screening of the two short films produced by the fellows over the 20 days. This year’s edition presented a strengthened educational program by extending the program period from 18 to 20 days to secure additional time for pre-production and feedback, enhancing the quality of the projects, and introducing a ‘script doctor’, a screenplay specialist, to the line-up of instructors, in addition to the original faculty of dean, directing mentor, and cinematography mentor.

From hands-on training to get familiarized with filming equipment to a masterclass session by the dean, director Suwa Nobuhiro, which will provide insight into his experience and expertise, and workshops to better understand the film industry, such as MPA-bafa Film Workshop: Bridge to Hollywood, the practical programs and mentoring by the faculty, who are deeply invested in the future of the film industry,...