African, Arabian Film Industry Get $10 Million From Red Sea Fund

In a bid to launch a new generation of filmmakers and supporting established auteurs as they bring their work from script to screen, directors from the Arab World and Africa will have the opportunity to tap into a $10 million fund announced by Red Sea Film Festival Foundation.

To this effect, applications for Red Sea Fund opened on June 15 and will close on July 21, 2021. The fund welcomes applications from around the world to support projects that are being helmed by an African or Arab director.

The $10 million fund will support projects with directors from the Arab World and Africa. The fund will back more than 100 projects in its first year, creating a game-changing boost for filmmakers from Africa and the Arab world by supporting fiction, documentary and animation feature films, as well as episodic content. Additionally, Saudi nationals will be able to apply to the Red Sea Fund to support short films in development and production.

According to Edouard Waintrop, Red Sea International Film Festival Artistic Director, the aim of the fund is to help African and Arabian cinema to grow.

“Helping African and Arab cinema grow, that’s a very exciting responsibility. That’s what the Red Sea Fund will do at every stage of the making of the chosen movies and episodic content. In providing more than 100 grants of up to $10 million to help the development, production and post-production of movies across the Arab World and Africa, the Red Sea Fund will help cinema that is in full metamorphosis” he said.

The Festival will witness the launch of the Red Sea Souk, a market place and industry hub for the region. Red Sea Souk will include a Project Market, with pitching sessions of more than 20 projects from the Arab World and Africa, as well as Films-in-Progress workshop. All projects that apply to the Red Sea Fund will automatically be eligible for Red Sea Souk – Project Market and Red Sea Souk Films-in Progress Workshop.

The Red Sea Souk – Project Market will take place from November 12-15, 2021, at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah. The projects will compete for the Red Sea Development and Production Awards respectively in the amount of US$25,000 and US$100,000.

The Red Sea Souk Films-in-Progress Workshop will take place from November 12-15, 2021, at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah. Each selected project in Films-in-Progress will compete for the Red Sea Post-Production Awards in the amount of US$30,000.

On her part, Shivani Pandya, Red Sea International Film Festival’s Festival Managing Director stated that the fund is a major boost for African and Arab film industry.

“The Red Sea Fund is a major boost for the African and Arab film industry. Over the past two decades, we have seen the Arab and African film industry grow and flourish. The Fund and the Red Sea Souk will provide more tools to support the Arab and African film business to make even more of an impact on the international marketplace with the launch of its project market and films in-progress workshop this November” she stated.

The Red Sea Souk will also contain panels, networking events, workshops and booths connecting the international film community to the exciting new Saudi market.

The Red Sea Fund will be split across three main categories Red Sea Fund – Development which aims to support bold and creative directors in developing live-action, emerging media, and animation projects from treatments to production-ready screenplays and concepts. Red Sea Fund will develop projects from Arab, African and Saudi directors that have a director and producer attached, Red Sea Fund – Production, which is for projects going into production and is aimed at supporting any aspect of the shoot. Open to viable projects at the production stage, with a script, committed director and producer attached, as well as potential cast and confirmed timeline. The team can be emerging or established, but with proven experience in filmmaking and Red Sea Fund – Post-Production.