Baz Luhrmann to Head Jury of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival

Ellise Shafer Daniel Kaluuya world premiered his feature directorial debut, “The Kitchen,” at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday night, calling it “one of the best days of my life.” Kaluuya was on hand alongside his co-director Kibwe Tavares, producer Daniel Emmerson and several of the film’s actors, including “Top Boy” star Kane Robinson and newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman. Set in a dystopian London where all social housing has been banned, the film follows the residents of a community called the Kitchen who must fight to save their home. Speaking before the premiere, Kaluuya and Tavares explained that it’s taken nearly a decade to bring the Netflix film to the screen.

The Wrestler, directed by Bangladeshi-Canadian filmmaker Iqbal H. Chowdhury, and September 1923, from Japan’s Tatsuya Mori, picked up the New Currents Awards as Busan International Film Festival wrapped a busy 28th edition on October 13. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Neom, the Saudi Arabian region on the Red Sea that is aiming to become a major film and TV production hub, has forged a strategic partnership with the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) to set up training programs for young Saudi content creators. The full-service Saudi production hub, which is becoming a major driver of the kingdom’s effort to build a film and TV industry almost from scratch, will be hosting courses held by The Korean Academy of Film Arts (KAFA), South Korea‘s top national film school.

Rod Stewart has revealed that he turned down a big offer to perform in Saudi Arabia because of the country’s human rights issues.The rock legend was offered what may have been the biggest money sum of his career to bring his show to the Middle East but declined due to the kingdom’s discrimination against women, LGBTQ+ people and the press.“I’m grateful that I have a choice whether or not to perform in Saudi Arabia. So many citizens there have extremely limited choices… women, the LGBTQ community, the press.

British rocker Rod Stewart has said he recently turned down an offer to perform in Saudi Arabia in an effort to raise awareness of what he described as “injustices” in the country. 

One of Nicole Kidman’s most disappointing films may be coming back to haunt her. Following the success of 2001’s “Moulin Rouge!” the Oscar winner joined Hugh Jackman and reunited with director Baz Luhrmann for the 2009 period epic, “Australia.” The movie earned middling reviews, but more importantly, was a box office bomb earning just $211 million worldwide off a reportedly $130 million budget.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Ryadh-based media conglomerate SRMG has partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery to launch Asharq Discovery, a free-to-view pan-Arabic-language platform with a lineup that includes shows that have never been seen for free in Arabic before. These include international dating reality TV series “90 Day Fiancé” (pictured), reality shows “Gold Rush” and “Wheeler Dealers” and the Morgan Freeman-hosted science docs program “Through the Wormhole.” Warner Bros.

Cailee Spaeny dazzles while promoting her new film Priscilla at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival on Monday (October 9).

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Baz Luhrmann is set to world premiere his upcoming miniseries “Faraway Downs” on the closing night of the upcoming SXSW Sydney Screen Festival, closing the loop on a filmmaking journey that began nearly 20 years ago. “Faraway Downs” is the expanded TV version of the director’s 2008 theatrical release “Australia,” an epic romance starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman that flopped at the domestic box office with less than $50 million.

Filmmaker Baz Luhrmann is set to debut Faraway Downs, the expanded and reimagined cut of his 2008 feature Australia, at the inaugural SXSW Sydney Screen Festival later this month. 

Dear Jassi arrives with echoes of Madonna’s 1989 hit “Dear Jessie” and its sugary promise of pink elephants and lemonade, but none of that turns out to be forthcoming in Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s beautiful and brutal sixth feature. Instead, we have perhaps the most disturbing bait-and-switch since George Sluizer’s original iteration of The Vanishing, a Punjabi Juliet-meets-Romeo story that’s much harsher that any so-far-filmed version of West Side Story and a whole lot funnier. This dissonance takes a while to reveal itself, but when it does, the shock is visceral. The fact that almost everything is true is the killer blow, and the shockwave of that reverberates through the poignant final credits, a static shot that forces the audience, or maybe just simply dares them, to think about what they’ve just seen.  

Ed Meza @edmezavar Ali Kalthami’s satirical drama “Mandoob” (“Night Courier”) examines the class divide in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, telling the story of a hapless delivery man and the desperate avenues he takes to make money. Comedic actor Mohammed Aldokhei plays Fahad, who finds himself in a precarious situation after he is fired from his day job at a call center. Trying to make ends meet, and help his ailing father get necessary medical treatment, Fahad embarks on an illicit scheme to sell stolen liquor while delivering food to wealthy customers.

China’s Pingyao International Film Festival has announced the line-up for its seventh edition (October 11-18), which will open with Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows and close with the world premiere of Fei Yu’s Football On The Roof. 

Marta Balaga “Hesitation Wound” and “Hollywoodgate” were named winners at the Zurich Film Festival, as the 19th edition of the Swiss festival came to a close. Selman Nacar’s drama “Hesitation Wound” impressed the Feature Film Competition jury.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is back after a one-year hiatus with a rich mix of Arabic and international titles launching into the Middle East and plenty of promising projects from Arab countries set to be unveiled to prospective partners at its CineGouna industry side. The event launched in 2017 by Egyptian telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris – whose brother Samih built the El Gouna resort in a swathe of desert near the tourist town of Hurghada 250 miles south of Cairo – was put on pause in 2022 ostensibly due to the country’s economic crisis following five editions during which fest co-founder Amr Mansi and chief Intishal Al Timimi had managed to rapidly put El Gouna on the international festival map while also making it a favourite with the local crowd.

Since NASA’s conception just over six decades ago, 600 astronauts have traveled to space, yet only 18 have been Black Americans. Hindered in equal parts by racial discrimination and the lack of educational and economic resources given to the Black community in the space administration’s formative years led to a significant racial disparity among those who aimed to reach for the stars.

Sharareh Drury Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival GEMS has announced the full lineup for its 2023 festival, which will run from Nov. 2-5. The 10th edition of the fest will feature 26 films from 14 countries, all taking place at MDC’s Koubek Center and Silverspot Cinema.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Rodrigo Prieto, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer, will be honored with the 2023 Árbol de la Vida – lifetime achievement award at the 13th edition of the GuadaLAjara Film Festival on Nov. 1. Taking place at the Theater at the Ace Hotel in Downtown L.A., the Mexican D.P.

Baz Luhrmann has been named president of the Features Competition jury at the upcoming Red Sea International Film Festival. This third edition of the event runs from November 30-December 9 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Fox News Bret Baier sat down with Saudi Arabian leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tonight and, to Baier’s credit, asked some pointed questions which MBS – as he is known – answered in turn with degrees of candor and deflection.