VARIOUS: Saudi Arabia's first horror film screens at the fifth Asian Consuls General Club (ACGC) Film Festival in Jeddah and is watched by a varied audience of film makers, diplomats and lovers of cinema

Record ID: 188924

  • Title: VARIOUS: Saudi Arabia's first horror film screens at the fifth Asian Consuls General Club (ACGC) Film Festival in Jeddah and is watched by a varied audience of film makers, diplomats and lovers of cinema
  • Date: 29th February 2012
  • Summary: JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA (FEBRUARY 28, 2012) (REUTERS) SAUDI ACTORS STAND FOR PHOTOGRAPH / 'WELCOME TO THE 5TH ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL' PROJECTED ONTO BACKGROUND
  • Embargoed: 15th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Saudi Arabia
  • Country: Saudi Arabia
  • Reuters ID: LVA4MO2DMPVGCITYW1O7TUCRZY0R
  • Story Text: The first ever Saudi-made horror film screened at the fifth Asian Consuls General Club (ACGC) Film Festival in Jeddah on Tuesday (February 28), opened by the Japanese Consul General Jun Yoshida on February 19. The event is being held at the residence of Yoshida and has drawn an eclectic audience of film lovers, diplomats - including the Consul Generals of both China and Sri Lanka - as well as actors and film makers.
    'Hidden Evil' is Saudi filmmaker Dr. Fahad Ghazoli's first attempt at a horror film. Having had the idea to do something new for the country and the region's cinema, Ghazoli has already taken 'Hidden Evil' to the Dubai Film Festival, where he says it was well received.
    "When we first thought of the idea to make a horror film, it was the first attempt in Saudi Arabia as well as in the Gulf area generally," he said.
    "We showed our film in the Dubai Film Festival and we won a number of awards there and they did ask me: 'why a horror film?' I said that we want to stand out at something - we see drama and we see comedy, let's try a horror film," Ghazoli added.
    In a country like Saudi Arabia, where cinema and theatre are banned and art and media are censored, the cinema industry is somewhat stifled.
    Saudi Arabia had some movie theatres in the 1970s but the conservative clerical establishment managed to snuff out the industry. Saudi film buffs had to travel to neighbours like Bahrain to see movies in cinemas but a new generation of young Saudis has begun making films in recent years.
    Consequently, some - like Saudi actor Jamil al-Ali - feel that the industry is still very much in its developmental stages.
    "Cinema is vast and there are those who are ahead of us, by years," said al-Ali.
    However, al-Ali is also very optimistic about what has been achieved so far in Saudi cinema.
    "But that doesn't mean that Saudi cinema has not made positive steps forward," he continued.
    The ACGC, made up of 14 Asian countries, was first established in 2008 and holds the film festival on an annual basis. Countries participating in this year's festival include Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Thailand, India and Korea.
    The 11-day festival comes to an end on February 29 with a screening of the Indonesian film "Di Bawah Lindungan Kabah" ("Under the Protection of the Kaaba").
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