Top Middle East Broadcaster MBC Floats 10% Stake on Saudi Stock Market Seeking $222 Million

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Global law firm Greenberg Traurig now boasts the largest sports, media and entertainment team in the Middle East with the addition of two new attorneys: shareholder David Bintliff and senior associate Lewis Calder, who will be based in the United Arab Emirates office. Both were previously with Bird & Bird.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabian thriller “Mandoob,” about a struggling man who becomes an illegal booze runner, beat “Wonka” over the weekend to top the Saudi box office chart while also scoring the biggest opening to date for a local film in the territory. The groundbreaking Saudi movie, which world-premiered positively in Toronto in September – and more recently bowed regionally at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah – tallied 114,000 admissions and a $1.58 million gross box office intake following its Dec.

Caroline Brew editor Director Abdulelah Alqurashi sat down with Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay at Variety’s Artisans Screening Series to break down his film “Alhamour H.A.,” Saudi Arabia’s official Oscars submission. The film is based on the true story of one of Saudi Arabia’s biggest con artists, a former security guard named Hamed who grows rich by convincing people to make dubious investments. Alqurashi lived in Jedda as a banker while the scam was happening.

Kanye West showcased a host of new songs from his forthcoming album last night (December 12) and one of them featured a Backstreet Boys song.The track ‘Everybody’ features a recreated chorus from Charlie Wilson, who joins West, Ty Dolla $ign and Lil Baby on the track, instead of mining a sample from the boy band’s famous 1997 hit ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’. You can view the performance of the track below.A sample would require permission from both a record label and a publisher, but because an interpolation – which is essentially a cover of a segment of a song re-sung or re-played in another song – does not use a recording, only the publisher’s permission is required.Because Backstreet Boys did not write the song they have no control over its use.

Nick Holdsworth At the closing ceremony of the 3rd edition of the Red Sea Film Festival Thursday, which took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in front of an audience that included Hollywood stars Nicolas Cage, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Jason Statham and Adrien Brody, the Golden Yusr for best film and a $100,000 cash prize went to Pakistani-Canadian horror film “In Flames,” directed by Zarrar Kahn. The director said that the indie movie was shot for “just $300,000 — the size of a Red Sea Fund production grant.” He urged “everyone who gets a grant to go make a movie, because this was made for nothing.” The Silver Yusr prize for best feature film went to Tarsem Singh for “Dear Jassi.” The film, an India/Canada/U.S.

Avengers: Endgame, after she stopped watching Marvel movies “at some point”.The actor, who played Pepper Potts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, explained why she hadn’t seen the 2019 superhero crossover blockbuster during a career retrospective talk at the Red Sea Film Festival in Saudi Arabia.Speaking at the festival on Wednesday (December 6) about Marvel movies (via Deadline), Paltrow said: “To be honest, I stopped watching them at some point. I’ve never seen Endgame. I can’t keep track of who’s what.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rising Saudi Arabian star Yaqoub Alfarhan, who is known for playing the titular drug trafficker and serial killer in hit MBC TV series “Rashash,” plays a very different role in the drama “Norah” by pioneering Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi, which is set in 1990s Saudi Arabia when conservatism was at its height and all forms of art and painting were banned for religion-related reasons. In “Norah,” which world premiered at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Alfarhan plays an artist named Nader who has given up painting and moved to a remote village to be a schoolteacher. There he intersects with this film’s titular character, played by Saudi newcomer Maria Bahrawi.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Egyptian-Austrian director Abu Bakr Shawky, who in 2018 made a splash when his first feature “Yomeddine” had the rare distinction of making the competition cut for Cannes, is back on the festival circuit with Saudi-set adventure movie “Hajjan.” Shawky’s big-budget epic follow-up, which launched from Toronto’s Discovery section, is now premiering regionally at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, where it screened Monday to roaring applause as an out-of-competition gala. Somewhat similarly to “Yomeddine” – which involved the desert voyage of a leper, a donkey and a child – “Hajjan” also involves a journey across the desert.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Dubai-based distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region distribution rights to groundbreaking Saudi drama “Norah,” which world premiered in competition at the Red Sea Film Festival. Directed by pioneering Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi, making his feature film debut, “Norah” is set in 1990s Saudi Arabia, when conservatism was at its height and all forms of art and painting were banned for religion-related reasons.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor With a fast-growing box office expected to hit the billion-dollar mark by 2030 and rising numbers of streaming subscriptions, Saudi Arabia is at a key point in its journey into becoming a key global player when it comes to TV and film production. However, with a market that is only five years old — with Saudi lifting its 35-year ban on cinema in 2018 — local audiences are yet to flock to locally made content, which is still relatively scarce when it comes to the big screen.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning filmmakers have formed a trade organisation called Film Association in an effort to hold sway in regulations being laid out for the country’s booming film industry. The Saudi Film Association, announced during the ongoing Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, comes five years after the government removed its 35-year-old religion-related ban on cinemas.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Succession” star Hiam Abbass will play a role that is the polar opposite of Marcia Roy in French-Lebanese director Danielle Arbid’s age-gap drama “Love Conquers All.” The Palestinian actor — who in the HBO series played the third and final wife of billionaire Logan Roy — will next star as Susan, a 65-year-old impoverished widow living in Beirut. There, she meets Osman, a young Sudanese immigrant worker without papers. They instantly fall in love.

MBC Studios is developing a series adaptation of popular Saudi writer Osamah Almuslim’s best-selling debut horror novel Khawf (Fear).

Pan Middle East and North African film distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment has promoted staffers Nicolas Torloting, Carine Chaiban and Elie Touma to partners. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region indie distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment is promoting company execs Nicolas Torloting, Carine Chaiban and Elie Touma to partners as it ramps up operations. The trio joined the company, headed by Gianluca Chakra, in early 2019 as part of an initial revamp.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Young Saudi director Meshal Al Jaser, who springs from the country’s vibrant YouTube scene, is making a splash with his madcap feature debut “Naga,” in which a young woman named Sara goes on a date and takes drugs in the desert. She then must overcome various obstacles, including a rabid camel, to get home before the curfew set by her punishment-prone father. Produced by Saudi’s prominent Telfaz11 production company in tandem with Netflix, “Naga” marks the first Saudi film selected for Toronto’s Midnight Madness program and is now premiering locally to ravishing response at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor It’s a busy year for the Red Sea Souk, the market arm of the Red Sea Film Festival dedicated to discovering new Arab and African talent. The same could have been said of every year of the market’s three-year history, however, with Saudi Arabia’s lightning-fast film industry solidifying the Souk as the principal film market for the Middle East and North Africa. The third edition of the Souk, taking place between Dec.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Kidnap thriller “Fourth Wall” and romance story “Chasing Red” are the first two titles to be shot at Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla as part of its partnership with Hollywood indie Stampede Ventures. The film entity, which is looking to attract international productions to a spectacular swathe of northwest Saudi, recently announced its partnership with Stampede Ventures that will bring 10 productions to the region over the next three years with a projected $350 million spend. Stampede is headed by U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Netflix has boarded Saudi Arabian multi-hyphenate Fatima Al-Banawi’s feature film debut “Basma” which tackles the theme of mental illness in her country. The groundbreaking film is set in Jeddah, the city on the Red Sea’s eastern shore where Saudi’s Red Sea Film Festival is currently underway.

“The work that exhibitors have done in this market is nothing short of exceptional,” Luke Vetere, Managing Director of Majid Al Futtaim Distribution, one of the largest theatrical distributors in the MENA region, told a crowd of industry figures this morning at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival.