Red Sea International Film Festival 2024: Spike Lee to head jury, line-up revealed

More than 120 movies from 81 countries set to screen in Jeddah next month

Oscar-winning writer and director Spike Lee will return to Saudi Arabia to head this year's Red Sea International Film Festival jury. Reuters

Organisers of the Red Sea International Film Festival have unveiled the line-up and jury head for next month's annual event in Saudi Arabia.

More than 120 movies from 81 countries are set to screen in the Al Ballad district of Jeddah from December 5 to 14.

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee will lead the jury for the features competition, which includes 16 films from the Mena region, Asia and Africa. Lee, who will also participate in the festival's conversation strand, previously visited the festival in 2022.

The festival will open with a screening of The Tale of Daye’s Family by Egyptian director Karim Shenawy. It tells the story of a Nubian albino singer and the adversity he faces on his 1,000-mile journey to audition for The Voice.

Egypt will be a particular focus at this year’s festival, with actor Mona Zaki set to be honoured. She is the star of Flight 404, Egypt's entry to the 2025 Academy Awards.

Shivani Malhotra, managing director of the Red Sea Film Foundation, tells The National: “She’s an icon of Egyptian cinema. It’s the perfect time to be honouring someone like her, because Egyptian cinema is having a moment. Mona represents everybody – she’s revered and loved by the new generation and equally with established filmmakers.”

In addition to receiving the honour and sitting for an in-conversation panel discussion, Zaki also has a classic Egyptian film to screen at the festival. It has been restored by the foundation, with more details to be announced soon.

Multiple films from the country, including the Seeking Haven for Mr Rambo, which premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival, will be shown as well.

Academy Award-winning actor and producer Viola Davis is also set to be honoured. She will also participate in the festival’s Souk film market, which aims to foster and develop both talent and projects.

The closing film will be Better Man from The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey. It is a musical based on the life of British pop star Robbie Williams in which the singer appears as a humanoid chimpanzee.

The Johnny Depp-directed Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness, supported by the festival’s parent body the Red Sea Film Foundation, will screen as part of a special awards night gala.

“What makes this project particularly special for us, in addition to our fruitful partnership with Johnny Depp, is that we had talent from Saudi Arabia working for months in key roles in multiple departments on the film,” says Malhotra. “It was an invaluable experience for them and one we hope to continue with future projects we support.”

In a pre-recorded message played at the press conference, Depp commented on the Red Sea’s efforts to develop young talent in the kingdom, saying: “Red Sea has been generous in terms of what they do for the youth culture of Saudi Arabia and the future of cinema.”

Gala screenings at the festival will include Maria, starring Angelina Jolie as opera singer Maria Callas directed by Pablo Larrain; Monsieur Aznavour directed by Mehdi Idir and starring Tahar Rahim as the French singer; We Live in Time starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield; K-Pops, which charts the rise of contemporary Korean pop music directed by singer Anderson Paak and filmed partially in AlUla, Saudi Arabia; and more.

A number of films that have garnered attention on the festival circuit will also be shown, including Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown, which premiered at Cannes, and Aicha from Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui, which was shown at Venice.

More than 50 per cent of the films at the fourth Red Sea festival will be exclusive premieres, according to Mohammed Asseri.

The Red Sea Film Foundation's acting chief executive says the festival has now “secured its status as a trusted sanctuary for filmmakers”.

Mr Asseri says there were more than 2,000 applications from all over the world, “which goes to show just how influential and far-reaching the festival has become in just four years”.

More films and celebrity guests will be announced in the coming weeks, according to organisers.

The foundation has partnered with the Creative Artists Agency talent firm, which is based in Los Angeles, for this year's event.

A version of this story was first published on November 11