The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) is currently hosting the 12th Saudi Film Festival, bringing together prominent figures from the Saudi, regional, and international film industries as well as filmmakers, critics, and cinema enthusiasts, according to the Saudi Press Agency.
Running through July 2, the festival is organized by the Cinema Association in collaboration with Ithra and with remarkable support from the Film Commission.
Themed “Every Story is a Journey,” the festival explores filmmaking as an evolving creative process, from the initial idea and scriptwriting through the challenges of production and the final cinematic experience shared with audiences.
The current edition attracted a total of 314 submissions, including 249 films and 65 projects for the production market. Of those, 27 films were carefully selected for the official competition, while six additional films will be showcased in parallel screenings. Therefore, the festival’s overall lineup came to include 50 films from over 15 countries.
Interestingly, nine Golden Palm Awards will be presented across feature-length fiction, short fiction, and documentary categories. These awards celebrate creative talents across Saudi, Gulf, Arab, and international cinema.
Apart from film screenings, the festival features a comprehensive program of panel discussions, masterclasses, training workshops, along with book-signing sessions for publications from the Saudi Cinema Encyclopedia.
The 12th Saudi Film Festival also boasts the “Meet the Experts” initiative, which provides one-on-one mentoring sessions with specialists in production, directing, editing, film criticism, festival programming, and project development.
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