The Saudi Film Authority recently hosted an open virtual meeting entitled “Women’s Cinema” The purpose was to draw attention to women’s role in the film industry and films that highlight women’s issues.
The virtual meeting was attended by a group of practitioners, producers, and directors.
The meeting reviewed the statistics of the international consulting firm Nordicity, which it conducted on the Saudi film industry.
The questionnaire, which was conducted on 192 people, revealed the motivation behind the work of film practitioners.
The percentage of female workers in the questionnaire reached 36% who are motivated to work because of their love of films and visual comics.
The directors talked about their experiences filming women’s stories and what intersects with women’s concerns, and they discussed their experiences directing their works.
Several speakers pointed out that the presence and empowerment of women in the field locally are evidenced by the high attendance rates over the past few years. The company’s continued growth is evidence of this.
The Film Authority has hosted a series of open meetings with specialists. These meetings have been held to enhance communication with the local film community and learn about their ideas and suggestions.
Cinemas started to appear in Saudi Arabia during the 1930s when the employees of the US Arabian-American Oil Company known now as “Aramco” installed show screens in their residential compounds where they were working on discovering oil in the Kingdom’s desert.
The company itself produced a documentary film about the inauguration of the first oil well in the Kingdom, in the presence of Saudi state founder King Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud.
The company also produced what many consider the first Saudi documentary film, “The Flies” in 1950, starring the Saudi actor Hassan Al-Ghanim, who is known to be the first Saudi film actor. The film aimed to educate people about the dangers of flies that spread during that period in Saudi Arabia.
