Stars Align for Red Sea: Angelina Jolie, Jude Law, Paul Dano, Anthony Mackie, Ben Kingsley Films to Play at Saudi Festival

The Red Sea Film Festival unveiled its lineup Tuesday, with films starring Angelina Jolie, Paul Dano, Jude Law, Anthony Mackie and Ben Kingsley among the selection. The festival opens on Dec. 4 with Prince Naseem biopic “Giant” (see separate story), starring Amir El Masry and Pierce Brosnan.

The International Spectacular strand includes Angelina Jolie-led drama “Couture” by Alice Winocour; Mamoru Hosoda’s anime “Scarlet,” based on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”; Olivier Assayas’ political thriller/comedy “The Wizard of the Kremlin,” starring Paul Dano and Jude Law; Spanish dance documentary “Farruquito: A Flamenco Story”; and Rupert Wyatt’s Saudi Arabia-set drama “Desert Warrior” with Ben Kingsley and Anthony Mackie.

The lineup also includes two Special Screenings: Oliver Laxe’s “Sirât” and Kaouther Ben Hania’s “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”

The Arab Spectacular program features Annemarie Jacir’s “Palestine 36,” a Red Sea-funded portrait of a photographer documenting rebellion in Mandate Palestine; Haifaa Al Mansour’s “Unidentified,” a female-driven detective thriller that challenges preconceived notions of violence against women; “A Matter of Life and Death,” a tender Saudi love story set in the festival’s home of Jeddah; and Amine Lakhnech’s “The Fakenapping,” a Netflix film produced by Telfaz11.

The Competition strand, featuring films from Asia, Africa and the Arab world, includes seven films supported by the Red Sea Film Foundation’s ecosystem, including Saudi Arabia’s Academy Award submission “Hijra,” directed by Shahad Ameen; “A Sad and Beautiful World,” a drama by Cyril Aris tracing the everlasting bond of love between childhood sweethearts; Zain Duraie’s “Sink,” a debut feature that follows a mother struggling with her son’s unravelling mental state; and supernatural “Roqia” by Yanis Koussim, set in Algeria’s Black Decade. Also supported by the Red Sea Film Foundation are the adult animation about an African child soldier “Allah Is Not Obliged,” which premiered at Annecy, and the Kenyan documentary “Truck Mama.”

Additional highlights include the world premiere of “Barni,” Mohammed Sheikh’s debut drama set in Somalia, about a missing child; the Middle East and North Africa premieres of “Two Seasons, Two Strangers,” the Locarno Golden Leopard-winning Japanese drama from Sho Miyake; “Lost Land,” the first-ever Rohingya-language drama from Akio Fujimoto; Cherien Dabis’ “All That’s Left of You,” which tells the tale of a Palestinian teenager swept up into a West Bank protest from the perspective of his mother; “Stories,” the new film of Abu Bakr Shawky; and the Iraqi drama “Irkalla Gligamesh’s Dream,” directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji.